The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children (14 page)

BOOK: The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children
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My jaw nearly broke off. 5K points! No wonder so many were participating. And that was just one item. Stars must have appeared in my eyes as I dazed off into la-la land. Just imagine the food, the clothes, the freedom…

While Dan spoke, other volunteers helped place the participants into scooters and submerge them underwater through an indoor pool. Physics seriously freaked me out sometimes. I had seen this in
Deep Blue Sea
. Thank goodness there weren’t any sharks in freshwater lakes…right?

In that instant, sharks became the least of my concern, because something hit me like a blow to the abdomen. Horrible. A dreadful, dreadful feeling. It felt like…death. My eyes widened and I ran to the glass. My hands pressed against it, ice cold, and my nails scraped against the surface.

“Stop…stop it,” I said. My eyes bounced around like small beads as I stared up at the sunlight beaming through the ice cracks, and the figure that floated right below them, a dark, limp silhouette.

“What is it?” some girl said behind me.

“Stop the event!” I shouted and ran for the pool. “There’s a body in the water!”

PART II
THE EXECUTIONER

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN—First Judgment

Y
elps and screams emerged from the event participants. Maybe out of sheer insanity or whatever the punch had been spiked with, I gripped Donna’s arm just before she jumped into the pool. Didn’t she think anything through?

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Her eyes stared lividly back into mine. “Someone has to check if he’s alive, Dan!”

“Have you lost your mind? Use your abilities, genius! Can’t you tell he’s dead?”

Her features paled more, if possible. “I will
not
stake someone’s life on a guess.” Her arm ripped out of my hand and I nearly bit off my lip.

“Dammit, Donna!” Just before she jumped into the pool, I slammed on the glass helmet and submerged myself in the icy water. Frost instantly crawled up the glass that my hot breath melted. Good thing the silver suit coated every inch of my flesh, or I’d be an icicle. I swam towards the surface of the lake, where the body floated, all the while cursing to myself. That stupid girl. I hated her. No, not her. This wasn’t her fault. Yet the hate inside me was so strong it was the only thing to propel me in the water. I veered around at the aftershock of a splash behind me, but swam on, until a shape caught up to me. The hell? Since when was Donna a master swimmer?

Come to think of it, I hardly knew anything about her. She sent me one furious glance and pressed on. Her competitiveness struck again.

It’s equally possible she thought I took my sweet time. If so, she was right as usual. Her abilities both fascinated and unnerved me to no end. I picked up speed.

Damn everything. Maybe if I drowned out here, it’d solve it all. But no. They’d find a replacement. They always find a replacement.

The body was white as a sheet in the water. It floated there like a jellyfish, right under the thick puzzle pieces of ice, and it made me sick to my stomach. Could a person throw up under water? I was about to find out.

Donna looped one arm around the body, and I did the same. I don’t get why she didn’t just let me take care of it. This was my fault. My responsibility. Why?

“I will
not
stake someone’s life on a guess.”

Did she really think that way? I didn’t get it. What did it matter? What did
his
life matter? Just like she’d come into my room before when it was none of her business. No one had ever tried to save me before. Or fix my problems. I stupidly wanted to cry. Stupid.

As we surfaced with the body, the break in the water also broke the sound barrier, and the blast of shrieks that met us almost broke my glass helmet before I removed it. I got out of the water first and dragged the body out with me. So light in the water, so heavy in the basement. Had I even realized the weight of what I had just done? Or was this exactly how I’d planned it?

“I told you,” I said and glared at her, my hand on his lifeless and hollow chest. “He’s dead.”

Donna trembled as though she were drenched in the water she had just swam through, when in reality the suit kept her completely dry. Other students screamed and backed away until Von van Vaughn broke through the crowd.

“Out of the way. Out of the way, everyone, immediately! No one touch the body.”

I scoffed. So this is how they’d play it. I stood up and stepped away from the victim. Hailie ran up to me.

“Dan! Dan, what the hell happened? Is he…why…how is he dead?”

I rolled my head in her direction with the most indifferent look I could muster. “Does it look like I know?”

She bit her lip and her eyes shot to Donna. “You sure didn’t think twice before you jumped in the water.”

My eyes rolled, but inside my gut squirmed like a wounded dog. Don’t do this, Hailie. Please just let it go.

“Everyone, remain calm,” said Von. “We will dispose of the body and begin an investigation of the—”

A noise interrupted that came from all our wristwatches, all at the same time. My jaw turned rigid as a digitized voice spoke. My eyes shot to Donna. Would she recognize the voice? Her brain looked on full alert as she studied the face of the corpse, but unless she heard the voice before, it’d be impossible, even for her.

“Students of LeJeune, this message is for you. I have watched you for some time now, and realized that the administration at this…Institute lets you get away with far too much. You are awarded points for your achievements and abiding of the rules, yet you are not punished in any way when you disobey the rules. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to pass judgment. This student, for instance, kept a shop open late because he allowed himself to fall victim to a young woman. We cannot have such a disruption of schedule.”
Donna’s hands shot to cover her mouth in a silent scream. “
The rules must be obeyed. As the administration at the Institute has not done its job of enforcing these rules, here are my conditions: first, a courtroom composed of the student body must be assembled; second, all students who do not follow the rules must stand trial; third, I will pass judgment on the result of the trial; fourth, any students who decide to leave the grounds of the Institute permanently will neither return to their homes nor the Institute; and fifth, teachers are not to intervene in the trials unless they wish for the entire institute to explode, like so many others. The first to stand trial will be Lauraline Cunning, Aaron Dart, and Tasia Glass, for smoking in their dorms.”
The entire crowd honed in on them in a collective explosion of gasps and the three students turned ghost white. I bit my lip. Told you so.
“My decision will be final: innocent or not innocent. And if found guilty…I will administer the punishment I deem proper. You may call me…the Executioner.”

The voice died, the watches muted, and perfect silence stood in the basement of the Institute.

“Th-This is a joke, right?” Todd said, his stance paranoid. “A prank.”

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Parks,” said Von. “As we have a body on our hands, I’m afraid not.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT—Stupor

T
he paramount unease that filled the entire Institute after the Executioner’s announcement seemed like an infestation. If there had been outrage before at Lenora’s announcement, this time everyone quieted as if waiting for a predator to strike. “Is it him? Is it her? Whoever it is, the Executioner could be among us!” Something like that. Or so the whispers carried.

Others tried to quell the accused and console them. Please. They were just glad it wasn’t them.

In the crowd, Donna looked startled still, and barely moved as everyone made their way out of the basement in a mass that resembled an agitated blob. Would she guess his identity? I almost wished she would.

But not yet. The death rattled her senses. It would be a while before she composed herself and began to piece it all together.

I had to warn her somehow. She should do well to follow the rules from now on. Or else they’d be sure to take care of her. Her abilities were simply too big a threat to the operation.

“I’m going to read up on the rules,” one student said. It seemed to catch like wildfire. They caught on.

“Yeah, I don’t want to end up dead!”

“No way, I’m not even coming out of my dorm!”

“Is that a violation?”

“You’d starve!”

“I want to go home. I’m gonna call my parents.”

“Shut up, stupid! That’s a violation!”

“Oh, God, I can’t believe I just said that. I’m getting the hell out of here.”

“You think you can outrun a killer? He’ll probably get you the moment you stepped foot outside.”

The basement cleared. Von and his assistants took care of the body. I stood alone in an empty room, ready to vomit. I had volunteered to help clean up. Ha!

I poured myself another cup of punch. My tenth, was it? How much of this stuff would it take to knock me out?

I sat on the cold steps, a block of ice. Hailie came up to me and sat beside me.

“Dan, you all right?” Her voice, a distant siren while I sipped from the red cup.

Was I all right? Huh. Good question. What did “all right” even mean? Were any of us all right to begin with? Wow, this stuff could really make you go philosophical.

I swallowed the poison and looked out to the depth of the lake, recalling the crowd that had stood there less than an hour ago. Now it was cold and dark. Cryptastic. 

Hailie’s hand rubbed my back. I wished she’d stop, yet it gave me a sick pleasure. As if any form of human contact could comfort me now. But she still wanted me. She had no idea, and she wanted me. I laughed. It came out more like a whimper.

What must they have felt? Fear? Hate? Mourning? Loss? I felt nothing, and everything at the same time.

The alcohol I breathed out drowned my senses. Somehow, I had gotten from the basement all the way to my dorm room. Patches of Hailie pulling me along and me slamming into the wall and tripping over steps faded in and out of my head, until I slumped into the pillows of my bed. I didn’t deserve her. Hailie’s form swam in the background and morphed into Donna. Donna? Was she really there or did I just…?

“Don’t tell anyone. You can’t tell anyone,” I murmured. She had probably already figured it out. After all, she saw the watch, I told her of my abilities. Donna may not be sharp, but her guessing had improved. She’d find out soon enough.

“I won’t tell anyone, promise.” Donna smiled and it pricked at my chest. Not Donna. She wouldn’t smile if she knew. The image morphed back to Hailie.

You killed a man.

No, they made me kill him. They contaminated me. They planted the bomb.

You killed a man.

He’s dead. I didn’t kill him. But he’s dead.

You killed a man.

Her hands caressed my face and I wanted to rip them off. “Dan, can you hear me? Can you…?”

I killed a man.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE—The Morning After

M
y eyes unglued slowly, my head heavier than a ton of lead. Sheets covered my half-naked body. Where was I? The sky blue ceiling came into focus, with the fighter jet stencils across it. Back in my dorm. I couldn’t remember how I got there. Hell, I couldn’t remember much of anything at all before…

My head stung. The murder. Nails dug into my palm as my hands formed fists beneath the sheets. Damn it all. Damn it all to hell.

As my senses cleared, I realized I wasn’t alone in bed. My head turned to a sound asleep Hailie, her shoulders bare.

“What the—?” I shook her awake, rougher than I should. “Hailie, what the hell’s going on? Get up! Why are you in my bed? Why are you…?” The blood drained from my face. I could feel it flush out, as if a massive mosquito sucked it all up. “Oh, hell…hell no!”

I leaped out of bed. The sunlight beamed through the curtains and stung my eyes. Hailie opened her own. “Dan…what’s the matter?” She sat up and blushed when the sheets fell down her body. Thank goodness she was dressed. Barely, but dressed.

“Get up! What the hell happened last night? Why are you…why are you here?”

“No need to yell.” She rolled her eyes, got up and stretched. The worms in my stomach were having a field day.

“Hailie. What. The hell. Happened.” It was all I could do to keep from storming around the bed and clutching her by the shoulders. I could already hear her say, “You’re hurting me.” I hadn’t done anything, but I knew I had hurt her. That’s why she did this to me.

“You mean you don’t remember?” Her face was mockingly innocent. Damn her. I liked this side of her, this daring, don’t-take-BS persona. But not right now. I couldn’t deal with her now. It didn’t matter how much I had cared about her. Everything was over. My life was over.

“We had a good time. That’s all.” Her eyebrows did their little bitch tilt and I wanted to strangle her. This couldn’t be happening.

“You idiot. Didn’t you hear the Executioner’s message? It’s against the rules for girls to be in the guy’s dorm. What if someone sees you?! You’d be put on trial!”

“Relax. No one’s gonna see me. Besides, we haven’t even formed a student court room yet. Least of my worries. Far as I’m concerned, it’s one big joke.”

I swallowed. Maybe she had a point, and maybe she didn’t. “What did you do to me?” The blood that had left my face all came back, and then some. I must have looked like a boiled lobster.

She stalked over to me and raised a hand to stroke back my hair. I slapped it away with the back of my wrist, my lips flat.

Hailie frowned. “Simple. I took what belonged to me.”

“You’re lying. I would know.”

“Oh, yeah? How would you know, Dan? We’ve been together since middle school.” Her lips curved into a wicked smile. She had absolutely no problem manipulating people to get what she wanted, no matter who they were.

My jaw trembled. “Tell the truth.”

“I just said it.”

“TELL THE TRUTH!” I spat in her face, but my body was strangely relaxed. Hailie’s expression turned robotic.
Oh, no…no, I didn’t mean…

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