The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children (24 page)

She grabbed my left arm with her gloved hand and positioned the bare hand behind my neck.

“What are you doing?!” I hissed, but she only addressed the person on the other side of the wall.

“I have Donna with me. Try to say anything, and I won’t hesitate to kill her faster than you could take a breath.”

My lips parted. Dan!

There was a long pause on the other side of the door before he said, “Fine.”

“Open the door,” Lenora said.

I looked at her from the corner of my eye. “But I don’t—”

“It opens from the outside only.”

I bit my lip and nodded. My hand pressed the knob and tugged. Dan sat on a bed similar to mine, staring into the lake. My expression immediately brightened, until I remembered Lenora’s claw-like hand hovered over my neck when she pressed her other hand into my arm.

But it didn’t matter. The instant he turned to look at us and stood up, I broke free of her grasp and slammed into him with a crushing hug. I was so glad to see him alive my gratefulness broke down my fear and took over my body. 

“Hey—!” Lenora probably hadn’t seen that coming. I smirked as I held him tightly for a minute, while Dan stood rigid, likely equally confused, and I pulled back, the mix of a grin and sorrow on my face.

“Good to see you,” I whispered. I smiled at the red bandana above his eyes that segmented his hair. Why did it seem funny at this instant? Probably because it reminded me of how we’d met. And also of how I learned the truth.

When I found out what they’d made Dan do, what he’d been through, it made me sick. Beyond justice. I was sick because Dan was innocent. But also because, all that time, he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. Not even Todd or Hailie, or me. He was constantly ready to sacrifice himself for others. Why? Who would give themselves and ask nothing in return? 

I pulled back from him and his lips finally turned into a forced smile. No way he could think, much less say, the same. I’d kept so much from him, and it had been so hard.

Yet something unexpected happened. Unexpected even for me. He broke the odds.

His grin broadened, despite the melancholy twinge behind it. “It’s really good to see you too.”

“All right, enough of that,” said Lenora, her voice stern, and her back turned to us again. She quickly replaced her glove and put a set of sound-muffling headphones on her head. The kind one wore to practice target shooting with guns. “Follow me. You and your little lovebird.”

The comment stung and I winced. I wasn’t anyone’s anything. But somehow I didn’t find the urge to deny it as I had before. I mean, what did it matter? We were way in over our heads. 

I looked to Dan and he nodded. Dan had a controlling nature, yet he fought to use it in moderation. Now was probably one of those times. I wished to know what really went through his head right at that moment. I envied anyone with the ability to read minds. Funny thing was, I didn’t want to read minds in general. Just his.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE—Family

L
enora stopped before the door of what looked to be the main office. The doors were vast and important-like. They reminded me of the office of a principal or headmaster, but grander.

When she knocked on the door and the voice inside said, “Come in,” it already registered who had spoken. It’s not who I expected. I expected a stranger. A secret “final boss” character who pulled all the strings. Instead, there, behind the large desk, sat someone we knew. The very person who had sent us up here.

I stepped from behind Dan as we walked into the room and said, “Von?”

He rested his chin on his intertwined hands. “Who did you expect, Ms. Wright? Stanley Thorton?”

Beside me, Dan stiffened. My eyebrows furrowed. “Thorton… Thorton Chemical Plant.” I then recalled the first letter Dan gave me when I interrogated him back at the waterfall. “T… Is he…?”

Von chuckled. “I see Daniel hasn’t told you as much as I thought. But then…he doesn’t know everything either.”

I looked to Dan, who turned white with rage. Hold on a second…while Lenora wore earmuffs, Von didn’t wear anything. Why didn’t Dan say something? Couldn’t he control him and get us out of here? Unless…

Now
I
turned white.

What if all this had been a set up? What if Dan had been working with them all along?

Wait a minute… I didn’t know.

I couldn’t tell! What was going on?

I stared with shaken eyes at Von. Had he…taken away our abilities in our sleep? I hadn’t fallen asleep…had I? Or was it that serum?

“You look startled,” said Von and looked straight at me. “Don’t worry, this is just a conversation between
children
and adults, that’s all. For now.” The way he said the word “children” slithered off his tongue and down my back. He leaned away from his hands and rested back in his chair. “I suppose we should start with Daniel’s last name. From what I gather, you have no idea who he is, do you?”

My mouth creaked open and I looked to Dan wide-eyed, who sent a death glare at Von.

“Do you want to tell her or should I?” said Von. Dan’s set jaw answered for him. “Daniel Thorton.”

My sharp breaths barraged my lungs. My head turned slowly to face Dan. “Y…You’re from the Thorton family? You knew all this?” My voice sounded like I spoke at a very high altitude.

Dan barely turned to me. Is this why…he sacrificed himself? Did he try balance out what he’d done? Part of me felt betrayed, yet another part couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. “Not all of it. Not after my father left us.” His eyes looked like bruises on his face.

“My mistake,” Von said in a low voice, so low that I barely heard it. Dan certainly did. This time, it was his turn to appear stricken.

“What…did you just say?” Dan stood like a stone statue beside me, yet I saw him shaking, or maybe that was just him fighting the urge to explode on the spot.

Von scratched his temple with his index finger, his eyes on the ceiling momentarily. “Haven’t seen your old man in years, so you expect him to be dead, right? After all, that’s what the press said: ‘Stanley Thorton dies in terrorist bombing on his tour of the Institutes.’”

Dan’s pupils were so small in his eyes I thought they might vanish. Just what was going on? I felt so helpless not knowing, not being able to guess. I wanted it back! Give my abilities back to me, dammit!

“You see, we have to make up for the damage costs after we lose one of the evacuated institutes. So the bombs are laced with the same substance which contaminated the parents of the students almost thirty years ago. I happened to stand too close to the explosion and lost part of my face. Not to mention, the contamination wave hit me.”

“No…,” breathed Dan. “You can’t be…” He shook his head and, even without my abilities, I understood.

My mouth dropped and I’m not sure how I said it, but I did. “
You’re
Stanley Thorton… You’re Daniel’s dad.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX—Clown Face

A
pause lingered in the office while Dan cracked under the revelation. No wonder Von’s—or, no,
Stanley’s
—face looked so plastic. He had probably undergone some serious reconstructive surgery on his face. To the point that his own son didn’t even recognize him. Son. The word sounded strange in my mind. Somehow I couldn’t align these two people with being related. They seemed like complete strangers.

I was about to rebound with questions and contradictions. Dan beat me to it.

“But…you’re a lackey! You collect the kids who come to the institutes! You bring them here yourself! My father… My father hated doing the dirty work. And you hate the positive reinforcement policy!”

Stanley breathed out. “True, I do hate the policy. I hate watching brats running around doing what they please and not getting punished for it. Yet it is the only way for the Executioner to exist. One cannot exist without the other. And who do you suppose I would trust to judge if a child was truly contaminated? No one but myself, of course. The matter is far too delicate, Daniel.”

Dan took a trembling step backward. There was no doubt about it; I could see it in his eyes. The man who had spoken was his father, all right. If I were Dan, I’d run and punch him square in the jaw. But he had me to consider. He couldn’t act rash. I would. Right now, my blood ignited in my veins. I rarely dared defy authority in its face. But this drew the line between injustice and insanity. The things I’d do if I had Dan’s abilities…if our own weren’t restrained. Was that Stanley’s ability? To suppress us? Damn, I wish I knew.

“Initially, the positive reinforcement strategy worked well,” Stanley continued. “Students wanted to earn points to afford what they wanted. But it didn’t drive them all enough. So I considered what might happen if I dropped a predator in their midst. Like Daniel, for instance. His abilities were perfect to become the Executioner. And others like him have done a fine job.” His eyes glistened. “Did you receive my informative message during your training, Ms. Wright? The predator-prey article, I thought it was rather insightful.”

“That was you? You sent that?” I said.

“Yes. Did you learn anything?”

“Only that…the prey evolves with the predator.”

“Exactly. You’re a fine example. And we did well to ensure Daniel went far beyond expectations.” He grinned a wicked grin.

No one said anything for a moment. Dan’s chest heaved beside me. He must be holding back an internal war. I couldn’t move. Even I…was the result of an experiment. Another statistic.

“I don’t understand,” a small voice that somehow came from my mouth managed to say. “He’s your son.” The words sounded like I was struck by some incredible paradox. And so I was. I couldn’t picture my own loving father ever treating me that way, ever forcing me to become his tool for execution. Contaminating me. “How could you make him kill someone? How could you do any of this to him?” I took a bold step forward. Dan’s hand reached automatically to restrain me, but froze in place, because so did I.

“My son?” Stanley looked around as though Dan were invisible. “Oh. Yes. I almost forgot. Son, why not tell her what you did to your mother?”

My flesh felt raw, as if my skin had been scrapped off and I stood exposed. Wait. No. I don’t want to know!

Dan breathed out, heavy. And, for the first time, I saw the resemblance. “I made her forget my father. And, in result, she forgot me too.”

“She forgot she even had children at all. Let’s not leave that out,” spat Lenora, leaned against the back wall with her arms crossed. I almost forgot she was there, watching our every move.

Dan veered around. “You knew about this?” he hissed at Lenora.

She smirked. “Of course I knew.”

His mouth contorted in rage.

“I visited her a few times,” said Stanley. “Difficult as it was with the amount of traveling my job required. That seemed to be the only time she could remember me. But even I couldn’t undo a command that permanent. So she slowly began to grow mad, not knowing which version of reality was real, the one with or without me.” Dan’s face was as red as his bandana now and his teeth pierced into his lip. “I had no choice but to leave her.”

My lip trembled and I rounded on Dan. “Then why didn’t you just reverse it? Tell her to remember again!”

The skin on Dan’s fist nearly ripped as he turned to me again. He didn’t look at me, only the floor. “Because I didn’t want her to remember. The man who started what he did after he left us. Don’t you get who my father is yet, Donna?”

I shook my head slowly.

“He founded the institutes. He set up the bombs. He is the true Executioner.”

Somewhere deep inside, I knew this. I knew. But I couldn’t accept it. Just like I couldn’t accept that he was really Dan’s father. I looked to Stanley, my eyes wide. “W…Why?”

“‘Why?’ My dear, there is a reason those contaminated aren’t allowed to leave the country. A reason their passports are marked with a crimson C. Have you any idea what other countries pay for an extraordinary child?” My heart made an overpowered pump. “The minimum is one billion dollars. The price goes up with training and preparation. The more they can use their abilities, the more they are worth.”

“That’s why you created the Institutes? To…To
precondition
us? And the government just lets you do this?”

“The government is severely in debt. It’s a trade they can’t afford not to make. If they don’t, we go to war.”

Something inside me shattered and the shards stabbed into every organ in my body. My entire foundation of justice, the law itself, crumbled under my feet.

They were gone. Each and every one of them. Gone forever. To some place on earth where we’ll never find them. To do…To do what? Become slaves? Terrorists? Traitors?

My mouth turned absolutely dry as I stared up at Stanley with all the hatred my body could resonate. He only said, “I’m not the Executioner here. We all are.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN—Options

I
couldn’t stand for this anymore. He thought himself some kind of self-righteous activist! I wouldn’t let him mock everything I’d ever believed in.

“Where did you take Eva and my mother?!” I spurted. “Answer me!”

Stanley looked slightly confused and then smiled. “I have no idea where your mother might be. Never met the woman. A law professor, isn’t she, though? As for Ms. Surrontez…she was given
special
treatment.”

“How special?” Dan snarled beside me. I looked between him and Stanley in anticipation.

Stanley’s hands parted. “I’m glad you asked. It’s actually a matter I brought you here to discuss…”

Dan and I exchanged a wary look and then stared at Stanley with narrowed eyes.

“As Ms. Wright knows and you, Daniel, don’t, Ms. Surrontez has a special ability to self-reproduce. But as
you
know, Daniel, contaminated children do not contaminate their offspring if they have a child with a non-contaminated partner. After all, it’s a recessive mutation. If, on the other hand, Ms. Surrontez did have a child self-reproduced, she
would
be able to have contaminated offspring. Since Ms. Surrontez was having difficulty conceiving, we took her under our wing.”