Isaura (13 page)

I didn’t say anything, unsure exactly what to say. I grabbed
his hand, pulling him along as I saw the trees grow thin as we reached the
clearing. Staring up at the sun I glanced at the sky, realizing we’d been
traveling north and the light above cast down as if it were noon.

I pulled back from Josh’s grasp, spinning in a circle,
staring up at the sky and then the forest we’d just traveled through.

“What’s wrong?” Joshua asked.

“It’s all wrong,” I murmured beneath my breath.
Don’t you
see it?
I asked him. Joshua didn’t answer me. I took a tentative step back
and felt my body free falling towards oblivion.

****

My eyes opened and through the haze of beeps and machines
attached to me, I pulled the plugs and sat up in bed. Glancing down I noticed
an ugly gray gown covering my body. My feet were bare and my arms chilly as I
climbed off the cot.

It had all been a dream, a hallucination of some kind.
Joshua wasn't here. I hadn't spoken with him since he'd left for Torv. My heart
ached and stomach sunk. Walking took extra effort. The cold tile on bare feet
caused me to shudder. I'd been drugged. I didn't know how long I'd been out. My
vision was hazy and as I attempted to walk towards the door, my body swayed
with each step. The white walls spun like a merry-go-round. The room blurred
and I followed the motion as the handle to the door held me up. Pulling it open,
I desperately roamed the empty hall searching for an escape.

Joshua?
Could he hear me? This had to be real. Why
would anyone dream up this place? I received no response and as I navigated the
hallway, I swayed from one side to the other as if the waves lapped against a
small boat as I tried to acquire my footing. I fumbled down the hall. Hearing
voices from around the corner, I found a door to my right, gripped the handle
and pushed it open, stumbling inside.

The room was dark and I felt around, grasping for a switch
to turn on the light. It took a moment for my eyes  to adjust again. Although
the drugs coursing through my system still made things sway, my vision was
clearer.
Joshua?
I mentally called out again, hoping he was nearby and
at the same moment wishing he was out of harm’s way. The room I had escaped
into was no different than the one where I'd been held captive. It was small
and though empty of a subject, had a bed and wires prepared for whoever they
were after. I didn't want to hang around any longer. Though my mind was in a
haze, I pushed through the clouds and fog doing my best to focus. I waited a
moment, pushing my ear against the door for the voices to fade before quietly
turning the handle. Again I moved down the hallway, searching for the nearest
exit in sight. Reaching the end of the hall I hit the button for the elevator,
stepping inside.

The elevator offered seventeen floors, not including the
basement where I'd been stashed away. I pressed the button for the lobby,
hoping no one would be watching. I'd stand out in the starch gray gown. The
elevator dinged as I stepped out. Two armed guards stood by the door, their
backs to me. Another guard was posted at the front desk.

Coming out of the elevator, I waited for the guards to move.
Taking a tentative step forward I felt a hand grab my arm, pulling me out of
their sight.

“What are you–” My words were cut off as a hand clasped over
my mouth and I saw who grabbed me.
Joshua?
My eyes widened as I studied
his face.
Is it you?

It is
. He confirmed. He kept quiet by communicating
telepathically.
We don't have much time. Follow me,
he insisted leading
me towards a janitorial closet. “Take this. Put it on,” he instructed once we
were inside the closet, keeping his voice to a minimum. Joshua handed me a
change of clothes, black jeans and a black t-shirt.

“Thank you.” I didn't ask him where the clothes came from or
how he knew I was here. Those questions were for later. We needed to get out
alive. Joshua watched the door, making sure no one was coming as I spent a
matter of seconds stripping down. I wasted no time, knowing at any moment we
could be caught. “How do we get out of here?” I asked, turning around, leaving
the gown on the floor.

Joshua pointed up. “The rest of the team is upstairs. We're
not leaving. Not yet.”

“What's going on?” I asked, relieved the drugs had begun to
wear off. Joshua opened the door, peering out to make sure no one paid
attention to us.

I'll explain later
. He assured me, hitting the button
for the twelfth floor. The doors closed and I breathed a sigh of relief that we
hadn't been spotted. It was only now that I had the opportunity to study Joshua
and I noticed the black pants and matching long-sleeved shirt. The elevator
doors opened and I gripped his arm, wanting desperately to find another way
out. Whatever was planned, I wasn't sure I wanted to be a part of it.

“We may not have much time,” I said. “Isaura had me in some
sleep chamber?” I didn't know how else to describe what she'd done to me. “I
told her about you, Henry, and Cate.” I whispered staring at him. I wanted him
to see how desperate I was to get out of there. If we waited too long, there
might be no escaping at all.

Joshua let out a sigh as he led me down a dark hallway and
into a room on the left side of the building. He knew where he was going.
Stepping inside I was surprised to find my father Gavin, his brother Hunter,
Aidan, Elsa and the advisors Henry had sent to Torv. “I found her,” Joshua told
them as he led me into the small room and shut the door behind us.

“What's going on?” I still hadn't gotten answers and I
wanted some understanding of what we'd gotten ourselves into. “Where are we?”

Gavin stepped forward, wrapping me in his arms in a hug. “Glad
you're okay, kiddo.” It felt weird to hug the man I hadn't been particularly
close with in quite some time, considering I'd thought him dead. He was growing
on me, even if it was just a little bit.

“I'm fine.” I said. They were all in the same black pants
and matching black shirts. “Did you find Isaura? That's why you're here, isn't
it?” There was a map situated on the table a few feet away. Gavin and Hunter
stepped aside as I approached the table in the center of the room.

Gavin was the first to answer. “In part.” He let out a heavy
breath. Was he nervous?

Hunter wasted no time in interrupting the awkward silence, “I'll
tell her if you won't.”

Although I'd met him briefly, right now I had grown to respect
him. Gavin shot Hunter a look before explaining what they were up against, “The
new government, the one we're responsible for putting in place, is already
corrupt.”

I sighed and leaned back against the table. “What kind of
corruption?”

“This place is a breeding ground. Their main facility,”
Gavin answered. “It's how they plan on repopulating the entire country.”

“I don't understand.” Scientists would work together, to try
to cure the issues of infertility. It would take time but of course there'd be centers
with research and medicine. What was so terrible that prompted Gavin, Hunter,
Aidan, Elsa and Joshua to lead an uprising?

“While you were put under, we believe they studied you,
Olivia.” Hunter stepped closer, trying to offer me reassurances but all I felt
was sick. My skin flushed, my stomach somersaulted, and I swallowed the bile
rising in my throat.

I pushed away from the table and took a step back. The only
place to go was towards the wall and I felt the cold glass of the window at my
back. “Isaura was in my head. She wanted to know about the Mindonsiphan.” I
didn't care if Hunter wasn't aware of what it was, he'd find out if he was
around us long enough. “Why?” I asked. I rubbed my temples. I wanted out of
here.

Gavin sighed, his eyes on me the entire time. “It's not all
about her. Isaura and the new government know what you're capable of. She's
informed them and made it sound terrible and scary. She's pegged you as a
monster.”

“No.” I crossed my arms and paced the length of the room. “They
should know better! I'm not a monster.” I was growing agitated and upset but I
wasn't evil. I wasn't a terrible and vicious person. I did what anyone else
would do.

Joshua stepped closer, his hands finding my arms. “Of course
you're not. We all know that, but the problem is they don't. They see us for
what we are. Rebels. We destroyed Genesis. We brought about the revolution.”

“And they're here because of it!” I shouted and Joshua's
hands clasped over my mouth.

“You have to keep your voice down,” he warned me. “There are
research labs surrounding this room. We could be found at any moment.
Understand?”

He dropped his hand and gave me an apologetic look. “Isaura
has a lot of power. It's possible it was derived from something else,” Joshua
admitted. “What we know is she has the power to persuade and to make others
afraid of her.”

“Jaxon could persuade people to do things.” I remembered
that on our trip to Genesis.
It wasn't unreasonable to think Isaura would try to do the same thing. “Why are
we here?” I asked. “What are you planning to do to the facility?”

“There's more to it than you think. They're studying people who
have been injected with Mindonsiphan and they're running their own drug trials
on women. Trying to get them pregnant with the drug.”

“Is that possible?” I asked.

Gavin shook his head. “Ordinarily no, but Isaura has a
compound that when mixed with Mindonsiphan can do some strange things when
injected.”

“What strange things?” I stalked across the room towards
Gavin. I needed more than he shared with me.

“It can replicate the hormones needed in pregnancy.”

“So what's the problem?”

“It's against the women’s will. They don't have any idea
what they're being injected with or the consequences of what might happen,”
Hunter answered. “If they had a choice, it might be okay, but they don't. The
new leader is rounding up women by the dozens and running genetic profiles on
them. If he feels they're an appropriate match, he promises them wealth and
fortune along with a healthy baby. He's lying to them.” Hunter elaborated, “And
if we don't reveal the truth, no one will.”

I rubbed at my forehead frustrated. “New leader?” It was too
much to bear. “Do we have any idea how many women have undergone the injection?”
If they were loyal to the new government, we would have no chance at all.

“Right now, two hundred and seventy-two,” Gavin said.

“How many so fast?” I couldn't believe it. There had to be a
large number of beds in the building, but it didn't look as though they had the
facilities to run such a huge operation. “When did they find the time to
manufacture Mindonsiphan?” I glanced at Joshua, hoping he had a decent answer.

“I helped before I returned to Shadow,” Elsa confessed. “I
knew you had used your ability to save Drezden, Olivia. I had no idea what I'd
involved myself in.” Her brow furrowed. “Believe me, if I knew I'd never have
suggested it to Isaura.”

“You worked with Isaura?” My stomach sank.

Elsa cast her gaze down. “At the time, she was Chloe's boss.”

Hunter eyed his watch. “We don't have much time.” He pulled
out a dozen or so syringes from a black case he'd had on the floor all along.

“What's that?” I asked wondering if they planned on
injecting something in me. I wasn't going to trust them, even if Joshua was
involved. I'd had enough experimentation! I was done with it.

Hunter gestured towards the syringes and tossed us each a
vial to go along with it. “We're going to save as many people as we can. It's
an antidote.”

“Save?” Again we were working outside the lines of right and
wrong. Administering the drug without their permission was a dangerous game to
play. “What will it do to them?” If they had been willing participants, even if
I didn't agree with what had been done, I couldn't justify what we were about
to do.

Hunter pulled the vial from my hands. “Never mind. We didn't
plan on you being here. You don't need to help.”

“No.” I took a step forward, my eyes narrowed as I searched
his face. “I want to help.” Maybe I did. I wasn't sure what to do, but I wasn't
going to have someone else take that choice away from me. Hunter studied me
skeptically before returning the vial to my outstretched hand. “The vial goes
like this.” He showed everyone as he held it upside down. “Uncap the needle,
pull it back to 1000ML.” He showed us the line. “Then at an angle pierce the
rubber of the vial. The needle will go in. Push down on the syringe until the
air is out of the needle and then pull it back to 1000ML again. Don't forget to
tap the air bubble out of the syringe before you inject it into the patient or
you'll kill them. Everyone should have an IV line that you'll inject the dosage
into. We work in pairs,” Hunter announced. How had he been skilled with medical
tools when we'd hardly seen them in Genesis? There wasn't time to ask.

Joshua nudged my arm. “You're with me, partner.” He smiled
and I wondered how he'd gotten into this mess. Was it Gavin's idea? Or Hunter’s?
How had Hunter and Gavin reconnected in Torv? I had so many questions but they
were all pushed aside as the door opened and Joshua stepped out first. I wanted
to ask what happened after we injected the patient with the syringe. Would they
wake up? If they did, what we were supposed to do, help them escape? I didn't
have much time to consider my questions as Joshua and I tiptoed across the hall
and into the first room. We had the twelfth floor. Joshua administered the
antidote to the first patient while I stood by the door to make sure no one was
coming. I held my breath, waiting for the young girl to wake up.

Dark hair splayed out on the table as her eyes slowly
fluttered open and I saw the bluest hue staring up at me. She moved her mouth
but the words didn't quite come out. “It's okay.” I smiled down at her. “We're
here to help.”