The Gifted (10 page)

I heard the voices of men from around the
corner outside. “I think he went this way!”

“How do you know?” another man said.

“Because I saw a
blur
this way.”

I didn't want to get in trouble so I closed
the window. As soon as I did, I saw two men running around the
corner after the dog. The dog, who had been panting at my window a
second before, was gone. I don't mean he ran away. He disappeared.
I saw a tan colored blur race across the rocks in the distance. I
felt like I was in a dream.

As I was thinking about this, I heard Han
stir in the bed to my left and get up. Then Guido did the same.
They came over to me and Guido asked, “What's going on? You look
confused.”

“I am,” I said. “I think there are things
going on here that we don't know anything about yet. There’s more
to discover here. And report when we get rescued.”

“Okay,” said Guido, who I couldn't see but
heard. “You're the boss.” It almost hurt when he said that. I
remembered the general’s voice,
You are no leader
. But if I
went with Abe, I’d be going against everything I believe. I don’t
want be a leader because no one has a choice. I don’t want people
to follow me because they have to.

For the next few minutes I was quiet as we
got dressed. We got our customary knock at the door. “Good
morning!” said the voice from the same kid as yesterday. “This
morning we’re going to run around the backside of the island.”

I was again surprised at the heat in this
part of the world. Everyone was warming up as usual. Abe came out
and told everyone to follow him, and we did. It was a good run, but
at one point we came to a large enclosure I had never seen before.
A fence, standing higher than my head, went in a giant square
around. . .something. It was made of boards with metal poles, so I
couldn’t see inside. As we passed I could hear growls, sniffling,
and clawing. I could also hear men talking.

I thought of this for a while, and then it
was Han who said “Look back.”

I did, and following me was the pigtailed
girl.

Afterwards, we showered and got ready for
breakfast, which I had with the others. I didn’t see the girl at
breakfast, and I felt energized in a way only exercise can bring.
This morning for breakfast we had a bowl full of cut up fruit and
nuts with a little yogurt. It was good, and I went back for
seconds. People chatted here and there at other tables, and we
mostly talked about people we knew back home. I asked Han more
questions about his family and he gave me a little more than he did
earlier. Guido and Tracy were having their own conversation. We
ended breakfast and headed off our separate ways again.

In the lecture hall I sat next to Han and saw
Abe move to the front. “Good morning everyone,” he said.

I looked around the room and saw people in
rapt attention as he spoke. What would it be like to have that kind
of power over people? To not have anyone question you, but
know
you are the leader? But then again, I was questioning,
wasn’t I?

Abe raised his voice in smooth commanding
tones, “We get students from all over the world at this training
facility. Some come because they have heard of our fame and want to
be a part of our effort. Some we get from. . .other sources.”
Students laughed at this.

Han and I looked at each other realizing he
must have meant the kidnappings and a shock of realization hit me:
He was making a joke of the kidnappings. How could I even consider
being a part of this? Kidnapping kids? And then I remembered
something I had memorized in school. It was from the Bible and it
just started playing in my head like I was hearing it read
aloud:

“In this world the kings and great men lord
it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’
But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest
among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be
like a servant.”

This time, I believed it. I didn’t want to
take power or fame by force. I didn’t want to be a leader because
no one could resist me. I wanted to do what was really best for
others. I wanted to
really
lead; not what Abe was doing.

Abe continued, “Whatever the source, we are
glad to have new students regularly who add their abilities to our
arsenal. And speaking of arsenal, our engineering department tells
me their first battalion of robotic warriors has just been
completed and is out for testing!” The crowd applauded around us.
Han and I didn’t know what to do, so we clapped along. Abe went on,
“This is a great event for us since these will be a big part of the
plan. It is great to see progress.”

“And now, everyone, to your training. I would
like you to work on the focus of pain today. So let's get with our
trainers. Don't get too zealous and permanently damage yourself,
but do your best.”

This caught my attention. I looked at Han and
said, “Pain?”

“For focus, I guess,” said Han.

“What have we gotten ourselves into?” I
said.

“Apparently pain,” he said.

This training worried me. Once in our
training room, my instructor, Derek said, “There are five paths to
using your gift. First is to focus. You did that yesterday. Second
is to cut out all distractions. That’s kind of related to focus.
Third is to use fear to drive you, and we practiced that too.
Fourth is to use drugs to help you focus. We mostly avoid this
because those drugs also kill you eventually or you might not be
able to stop using them. But the fifth path is pain, and it works
very well.”

After saying this he took out a whip from
behind his back and I cringed. As he raised the whip, two kids ran
past our room. Then three more. Derek put down the whip and yelled
out in the hallway, “What’s going on?”

A kid with short blonde hair said, “They
caught someone.”

“What?” I said.

“Follow me,” said Derek.

I followed, glad to avoid any pain. We ran
through dark, cold passages until we arrived at another larger
auditorium. Derek walked toward the front, while I stayed in the
back. Everyone was talking loudly as a light focused on the stage.
Up front was Abe, and next to him, tied to a chair was Tracy with
an empty chair next to her. Whenever I looked away from the chair
back to Tracy I could see that someone was in the other chair.
Someone wearing a Hawaiian shirt—Guido.

Abe motioned for everyone to quiet down. “We
have recently captured two spies. Something that has not happened
since this training facility began. We recorded these two on camera
yesterday in our Communications Office. They were calling the U.S.
for a rescue. Imagine that! Our enemy! As if someone who had the
privilege of coming to this training facility would ever want to
leave!” There was some laughter.

“Tonight we will have the first execution we
have yet had at this facility. I hope you understand the
seriousness of this. If it was ever in doubt before, remember, we
are at war, and we will prevail!” There was applause from the
crowd. This time I couldn’t bring myself to join in.

Abe held up his hands and the applause died
down. “The execution will be in the lower dungeon so that it will
not disturb you. At least you will not have to worry about traitors
among you. Power to conquer!”

Then the whole room shouted again and again,
“Power to conquer! Power to conquer! Power to conquer! Power to
conquer!”

Then it faded and students began talking
excitedly about this discovery of traitors. My heart sank. What
should I do? When they had called yesterday there was a video
camera recording them. It was all my fault.

Just then Han ran in behind me and whispered
in my ear, “Did you hear?”

“Yeah,” I whispered back, not wanting a
reminder. “They caught Tracy and Guido.”

“They did?”

“Isn't that what you were going to tell
me?”

“No,” he said, “Brock just escaped!”

“Where did you hear that?” I asked.

“I overheard some boys. One of the boy’s
father is a guard and came home talking about it. They chased Brock
to the ocean. They thought he drowned; he didn’t.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Because Brock won three ribbons in swimming
for the U.S. team. I recognized him from the feed I watched as a
boy. I saw him get those ribbons. It would take a hurricane to
drown him.”

“Do you think he left us?” I said.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe he just
hid.”

“I hope he’s okay.”

Han looked at the stage where Tracy and the
mostly empty chair that must have been Guido were sitting. “What's
going on with them?”

“Captured,” I said. “They are to be executed
tonight.” He looked up worried. “Which means we are planning to
break in, rescue them, and escape today.”

“Do you have a plan?” said Han.

“Unfortunately, I do,” I said.

“Is it a good one?”

“I have no idea. I’m not as confident as I
used to be.”

“Confidence is overrated,” said Han. “You go,
I’ll follow.”

Han followed me out of the room and through a
series of corridors. When we got to an outer door, he asked, “Where
are we going? We can't leave them.”

“I'm not leaving anyone,” I said. “We need
reinforcements. We need a diversion.”

“How about guns? Does your diversion involve
guns?”

“No,” I said. “But it involves a dog.”

Once we found an exit that led outside, I
began to jog. It was terribly hot and muggy out today.

“Didn't we already do this?” he said.

“Yup,” I said. “And it was very
enlightening.”

Han was breathing kind of hard, “Okay.”

We came upon the same enclosure we had come
upon earlier that day. We walked around one side almost all the way
before we found a way inside. There was a large steel gate, but it
was locked. “What do we do now?” he said.

“We wait.”

We could hear people inside at times, so it
was only a few minutes before we heard the door open. When it did,
we stood in front of it. “Hi,” I said, using my influence as much
as I could focus, “Can we see the animals?” I said this with a
smile.

“Well,” said the man holding a gun in both
hands, “we're not supposed to let anyone in here. But since you are
a part of the school, I guess it's okay,” he smiled back. “Just
this once.”

“Thanks,” I said. We walked inside the
gate.

The place was a wonder. Some animals were in
cages and some were roaming free. There was a walkway down the
middle with enclosures on both sides. The tiger I had seen the
other day was pacing back and forth in the open. I heard some loud
birds and even saw a dolphin tank, and the place stank of animals.
In one corner I saw the dog I had petted earlier in a cage. I said
to Han, “Now why would a tiger walk free, but a small harmless dog
be put in a cage?”

“Maybe he has rabies,” said Han.

“They shoot dogs with rabies,” I said.

Although the cage was shut, I saw that it was
not locked. I opened the cage door and out came our dog wagging his
tail and whimpering. He licked my hand and I pet him a few times.
In a tan blur, he was gone down the pathway, then,
zip
, he
was under my hand again as if he hadn't gone anywhere.

“How did he do that?” said Han.

“Maybe he has a gift, like us.”

“Hey, kids!” we heard someone else yell in
our direction. “You can't be here. You want me to report you!” My
effect on them had worn off or they were new guards.

“Gotta go!” I said.

Han and I raced toward the closed door, but
as we neared it, two other men approached from the left and blocked
it. They had M16’s and wore angry expressions. I heard our dog
running beside us panting and leaping like he was playing a game.
Han and I slowed down, putting our hands up. We knew we were beat.
Our dog, on the other hand, didn’t even slow down, but blurred out
of existence. Both men dove out of the way as a terribly loud,
cracking noise deafened us. The dog ran through the door like it
wasn’t even there, leaving a hole a little bigger than the dog.
Once through, he panted like he wanted us to follow. We crawled
through as fast as we could, and the dog happily licked my face. As
we continued to run, I heard the guards yelling for us to stop, but
didn’t pursue us further.

“A gifted dog,” said Han between breaths.

“Very,” I said.

We ran on toward the building, going inside
the first entrance we found. “How do we get to the dungeon?” I
said.

“I can only guess,” said Han. “Dungeons are
usually under castles in books and we’ve been through much of this
floor, so let's look for stairs going down.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said. We ran along
one of the corridors with the dog next to us. There was a loud
sound of talking and feet shuffling ahead, so we hid in an open
training room. “It must be lunch!” I whispered, “The rooms are
empty.”

We moved from there until we had passed the
lunch area and began looking for stairs. I had no idea where I was
going. We had walked for several minutes when we entered a dimly
lit area, so we had to slow down. “How will we know where the
dungeon is?” I said.

“It says dungeon over the door,” said
Han.

“How do you know that?” I said.

“Lot’s of experience with dungeons,” said
Han.

“Really?”

Han smiled and pointed above my head. Turning
around I saw in the dim light a sign above a door that said,
“Dungeon.”

“You tell jokes,” I said. “I didn’t know you
had it in you.”

“Only when they’re funny,” he said.

The stairs were made of stone which slowly
spiraled down to the left and were mostly shrouded in darkness.
Occasionally a fluorescent light was stationed along the wall but
it got pretty dark before the next light. A heavy steel door stood
at the bottom. Our new dog was panting and following us the whole
way. He would zip forward like a blur and then back like a blur. He
didn’t ever seem to get tired. One time he came too near me as he
ran past and tore a piece off the side of my pants. “Ah,” I said.
“Watch it.”