Beyond These Walls (20 page)

The first slap to the side of my face caught me off guard, rattling my already loosened teeth. “I warned you to stay away but mutants like you never listen. But you will now. I’ll see to it. All of you will learn your place. Learn who’s boss.” His fist smashed into my stomach dropping me to my knees.

By the third blow I’d had enough. No asshole in wing-tips and who smelled like a pine urinal cake would get the better of me. I caught his hand, twisted it until the tiny bones snapped, and then sent my fist into his nose. Blood blasted from the mashed nostrils, as he fell to the ground rocking back and forth like a child.

I raised an eyebrow at his high-pitched squealing. “The pleasure’s all mine.” As soon as the words left my mouth, two agents rushed inside the cell and tossed me to the ground, crushing me to the floor with the black soles of their polished boots.

“Ow,” I yelped as my already battered ribs cracked under the assault. My lungs struggled for breath and blackness swirled before my eyes. I was dying, suffocating slowly inside my own warped body. The emptiness in Quinn’s eyes flashed through my oxygen-deprived mind, his last words echoing inside my head.

Run.

If I only could.

Mei leapt to her feet and in a blur of tiny mutated limbs, she attacked the agents kicking and karate-chopping like a Tasmanian mutant.

A shot rang out.

Mei’s blank eyes widened, her mouth forming an O, as her body seemed to freeze in mid-kung-mutant move before falling uselessly to the floor next to me. “Caren,” she whispered, blood streaming from her lips. Slowly the light in her eyes vanquished, leaving me staring into her black, empty pupils.

Dead eyes so much like my own.

Chapter 44

A few minutes after Mei’s murder, I found my hands cuffed behind my back, and my body dragged down a long corridor toward the Resden lab. My body and mind felt numb with emotional overload. I’d watched too many mutants die today. And for what? Why did Arthur hate us so much?

“Stop dawdling. We don’t want to keep him waiting.” An agent shoved me forward. I stumbled, and unable to catch myself, slammed face first into the plush carpet. Spitting out a mouthful of fuzz, I rolled onto my back and gazed up at the greenish glow of the overhead lights. If these were my last moments of mutantity I wouldn’t go gently into any mutant night. I’d damn well rage. Let them try to stop me.

“Get up, mutant bitch.” The agent yanked me to my feet, his knuckles digging into my shoulders. “You don’t wanna be late. Not for this.” His excited was palatable. It hummed in the air, sickening me with its intensity. He would enjoy watching me turn, watching as my mutated cells rearranged into a pure genetic code.

30,000 genes.

Forty-six chromosomes.

All in a perfect order.

With a feeling of ultimate dread, I limped toward my destiny and the hallowed halls of Arthur’s lab. From behind the agent pushed me through the double doors, sending me flying into the lab. I would’ve smashed into one of the mutants in a jar, but a calloused hand jerked me back in time. A shiver ran up my arm where Agent Umber’s fingers branded my flesh. His touch felt like death against my skin.

He smiled, showing off a split lip and dark bruising above his right eye. A result of my second bomb I hoped. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” he said, his voice gruff. “Do as you’re told, and it will be over before you know it.”

“Grin and bear it, huh?” I gave a bitter laugh. “I’m not that kind of girl.”

“But you soon will be.”

In the reflection of his dark glasses, I saw my future. Once the vaccine entered my bloodstream, my mutated cells would shift, and I’d become human. And soon after that, thanks again to Resden’s research and development, I’d be a corpse. The plague inside my body would morph and I’d wither and die. Just like my parents had.

Served Arthur right.

In a way it was almost funny. My impending death was a highlight to this debacle. I pictured Arthur’s face as I lay dying on the floor of his lab and grinned.

So be it.

I only hoped I survived long enough to see time expire on my third and final bomb. The same bomb set to detonate in less than twenty-five minutes. It was guaranteed to take out all of Resden. None of us could stop it. Not London or the deadly Agent Umber. Not even me.

“Indeara?” Arthur walked into the lab, his white hair emphasized by the paleness of his skin. He looked older than he had a mere week ago as if his life force was slowly leeching from his body. He came toward me, but stopped a few feet away. Was it fear I saw in his eyes or something less definable? Regret? Hate?

“Hello Grandfather.” I shrugged my shoulders. My handcuffs rattled against the back pocket of my ruined jeans. “I’d offer you a hug, but…”

Arthur stepped closer, a frown pulling at his lips. “Uncuff her. Indeara’s not a threat. She’s family, my flesh and blood.” Like London, I wanted to ask, but for once remained silent.

“I don’t think that’s wise.” Agent Umber laughed, deep and harsh, as if the sound had been ripped from his soul. He shook his head at Arthur. “She’s already killed at least two agents, not to mention destroying a fourth of your building.” His tone held a grudging respect.

“And it’s still early yet.” I batted my eyelashes. “Give me another half-hour and you’ll be wearing your intestines as a necktie.”

“How quaint,” Umber said, shaking his head. “Let’s get on with it, Resden. We have other more important mutants to,” his lips curved into a grin, “fix.” If it was possible I hated him even more after that statement. I wasn’t some bit of mutant fluff to be discounted. I’d made better men shake in their wing-tips, damn it.

“Indeara, my love.” Arthur smiled at me. “We’re only trying to help you. Save you from your altered fate. Once you’re fixed, you can have a real life. A real family. Let me help you.” From the look in his eyes, he honestly believed every word. To him I was an abomination, a disease in need of a cure.

Just like Calvin.

Hate bubbled up inside me, spewing from my lips without thought. “Help me? Help me?” I shrieked. Arthur stepped back, his face paling. But Agent Umber didn’t move, he just stood there with a smirk on his smug face.

Anger gave me added strength, enough to ignore the intense pain ripping across my shoulder as I dislocated it from its socket for a second time and jumped backward through my cuffed hands. A trick Quinn had taught me in the privacy of my bedroom. An ache grew inside my chest, a mix of grief, betrayal, and rage.

With my hands now in front of me, I smashed my palm into the closer of the two agents’ nose. He dropped to the ground, blood leaking from the busted cartilage. The second agent, this one wider than his cohort, tried to tackle me using his large frame to overpower the helpless girl. I responded with a well-placed kick to his knee, which shattered on impact. He barked, and before he hit the floor, his black eyes had rolled up into his head.

I stepped toward Agent Umber, ready to extract some much satisfying vengeance. But the smack of hand against hand stopped me. “Bravo, Ms. Adair.” Agent Umber stood a few feet from me clapping his hands together. The slow measured beat sent a shiver down my spine. “But you’re wasting my time.” Pulling my nine-millimeter from the waistband of his pants, he aimed it at my heart.

I laughed. “Go ahead. Shoot me.”

He raised his eyebrow.

“You know you want to,” I taunted.

“No,” Arthur said jumping between us. Agent Umber lowered his weapon, but he didn’t return it to its holster. My grandfather nodded; apparently satisfied that everything was back in order. How wrong poor old gramps was, I thought, considering the best way to snap his neck with only one working arm. I shrugged. He was old, it probably wouldn’t take much.

Before I could crush his windpipe with my chained writs, Arthur grabbed my arm and plunged a hypodermic needle into my flesh. “Trust me, Indeara. It’s for the best.”

Chapter 45

“Ow!” I shoved Arthur Resden away from me. He rocked back, teetering on some sort of invisible string, and then crashed to the floor. The needle in my arm quivered, blood spurting from the puncture wound like a fountain, but none of the vaccine entered my vein.

Not yet.

In a panic, I reached for the offending instrument, but Agent Umber wrapped his arms around me, trapping me against his body. “Stop struggling,” he said, flexing his forearm against my neck and yanking the needle from my vein.

Yeah right.

I kicked him in the shin, but he sidestepped, almost as if he’d known my next move before I had. Bastard. The needle fell to the floor, and before Umber stopped me, I flattened it under my boot.

Arthur staggered to his feet gasping for breath. A part of me might’ve felt bad, if he hadn’t just tried to ‘cure’ me. My leg lashed out missing Arthur’s head by inches.

Umber pulled me back, mashing my breasts against his chest, and whispered quietly in my ear, “The more you fight me, the more mutants that will die.” His hot breath caressed the back of my neck. “Think of your friends. Your family.” Grasping a lock of curly hair, he tugged. “Of Nobody, Ivan, and dear little Mikey. How much will they suffer for your sins?”

I ceased struggling, keeping still in his rough embrace. I’d lost too many mutants I loved already. I wouldn’t risk anymore. “These aren’t my sins.” I swallowed, turning to face Arthur and thrusting a finger in his direction. “They’re his. Founded in greed and fear.”

Arthur shook his head. “No, no, Indeara. I want to help you mutants. To make you whole.”

“You mean make us human.”

“Yes.” Arthur took a step toward me, but Umber held up his hand. “I wanted you to be perfect like my dear Emily. To have the life she should’ve had.” His lips thinned. “If it wasn’t for that mutant, your father. He destroyed her life.”

“No,” I gave a bitter laugh. “You did. She died because of you, and your hate.”

The crack of Arthur’s palm against my cheek ripped through the room. My face burned with the imprint of his hand, but I refused to flinch. Agent Umber, on the other hand, grabbed Arthur’s fist and flung the older man backward. He stumbled but stayed on his feet.

“Control yourself, Resden,” Umber ordered, the blackness of his sunglasses adding to the overall menace in his tone. Arthur seemed to shrink under Umber’s gaze, growing smaller and smaller until I thought he’d disappear.

“I loved Emily.” Arthur wheezed. “I gave her anything she wanted. Everything she asked for.”

I couldn’t argue with that. He’d given her life, and death. What more could a father offer? I started to respond, but Agent Umber shoved his hand over my mouth. “We don’t have time for this. The vaccine needs to be administered to all the mutants now.”

Arthur nodded, his eyes cold as a mutant morning. Umber smiled. His arms tightened around my body, shifting my weight against him. My stomach clenched, tendrils of fear tickling my senses. The heat of Umber’s body pressed against mine terrified me in so many ways. If he touched me, he would bleed. No doubt it. I wouldn’t beg or plead for my virtue. I’d fight. To the death.

“Don’t do this, Arthur.” My eyes caught his. “Please. We’re not a disease to be eradicated. We’re people just like you. Like Emily.” Using my mother’s name left a bad taste in my throat, like kissing a toad-prince. Sure, the end result looked fine in a pair of leotards, but you usually ended up with warts. The genital kind at the very least.

Arthur shook his head. “I realize now that it can never be.” From the pocket of his lab coat, he pulled a surgeon’s scalpel. It shone like fire in the overhead lights. Umber backed up a half step, taking me with him, almost as if shielding me from the crazed older man.

“I’m sorry, Indeara. I hoped things could be different. That you could take your rightful place. Emily’s rightful place.” Arthur raised the instrument to strike. “But you’ll never be like Emily.”

“I’m more like her than you think.” I pushed from Agent Umber and stood staring into the eyes of my grandfather, eyes like replicas of my own. “You see, Emily and I share more than genetic material.” I nodded in his direction. “We share a disease. A plague of sorts.”

He frowned, slowly lowering his weapon. “I don’t understand.”

“Oh, I think you do.” I pulled back the sleeve of my shirt, exposing the telltale rash of Resden’s plague. Agent Umber flinched in disgust, which gave me a small measure of satisfaction. “Emily died by your hand. London told me all about it. How Calvin tried to save her, to beg you for help, but you refused to talk to him. And she died. Died from a plague you created. A plague you administered to kill Calvin. She died because of you.”

“No,” he moaned.

“At the end, she didn’t even recognize me.” I swallowed the bitter memories, focusing on inflicting as much suffering on him as he had hundreds of mutants. I wanted him to cry, to beg, to bargain with the devil as I’d done time and time again while watching the plague destroy my family.

“I didn’t know.” Arthur shook his head as tears streamed down his cheeks. “I wanted him to die. All mutants to die. Not my baby. Not like that.”

The scalpel in his hand clattered to the floor. My eyes darted to it, debating the wisdom of sending it spiraling through Agent Umber’s jugular vein. But my moment of opportunity faded quickly as Arthur sank to the ground next to the knife curling into a fetal position.

“You can make it right.” I slid to my knees but avoided touching him. I couldn’t bare the thought of any contact between us. It was as if his evil was the catchy kind. “Help me stop the vaccine from destroying what’s left of Emily, and the mutant race.”

“Yes.” Arthur lifted his head from the floor and stared into my eyes. “I’ll make it right.” He reached for the scalpel. “For Emily. For her daughters’ sake”

Agent Umber lunged for the weapon, but he was too late. Arthur plunged the steel blade into his own throat, ripping through the muscles, tendons, and veins. Blood splashed over me like a wave. Arthur’s body went limp, blood staining the floor around us red.

I watched my grandfather die, and felt nothing. No satisfaction or regret.