Masked (15 page)

Carol Rogers was a twenty-two
year old high school English teacher who had just had a rough break-up with her
boyfriend of two years. He’d been another teacher at the school with her. A week
before, she stayed after school to catch up on grading a stack of papers due
back to the students the next day. It was late and she was finally ready to go
home. On the way out, she remembered she’d left her sweater in the teacher’s
lounge. It was a little cool out that night so she decided to go back for it.
When she entered the lounge, she found her boyfriend half-dressed on the sofa
with a student. The image of the scene was very vivid in her mind and I felt a
little creepy watching it.

She didn’t stay long enough for him
to say a word. She ran out of the school and hadn’t been back since. She was
just about out of sick days and needed to go back to work. What she wanted was
to do something to stop making her feel like a victim and to get even with her
ex-boyfriend. What she lacked though, was the nerve to do something risky and
out of character, so she just sat at the bar in a place she wouldn’t normally
be at and kept the drinks coming.

I noticed officer Raymond looking
at me again. Knowing I was a person of interest to her, I tried to ignore it. I
thought I’d read her later.

Glancing back at the bar, I saw
my odd couple again. Now the blonde woman appeared to be whispering in Wally’s
ear. He nodded in response to what she was saying with a big dumb grin. It
seemed like it was going to be Wally’s lucky night because they both rose to
leave together. For some reason, I just couldn’t shake how odd the forwardness
of this girl was. Surely there had to be an ulterior motive.

I debated reading her for a
second but decided to go ahead. Why not? I had to know what she was up to. It
was none of my business, but I hadn’t read the girl yet and I needed to be thorough
in my investigation.

It took just seconds to enter the
blonde girl’s mind. By the time I was done they were walking through a door
towards the back of the bar.

“Oh crap,” I blurted out as I threw
down my drink and followed.

In the week following our first
perfect night together, Sara and I managed to get away each evening to our
little corner retreat. Each subsequent night was even more perfect and
passionate than the one before. She was so perfect. It felt so right with her.
We fit together so perfectly, not only in the physical sense, but in mind and
spirit as well. Neither of us was getting much sleep, but it wasn’t wearing on
me, in fact I felt more energized, in a constant state of euphoria. All of the
skepticism and feelings of uncertainty took a back burner. I was all about Sara
and her presence left no room for other thoughts.

Each night when I came to take
Sara away, I was met with Emily’s disapproval and the severity of it seemed to increase
each time. Initially Sara and Emily had really clicked and become close. Lately
though, that relationship was strained and the deterioration was obvious. I didn’t
exactly understand why. I would have thought she’d be happy for Sara to be
happy. I understood the hesitation of not following the rules, but come on, all
we were doing was meeting in another part of the building. It wasn’t like we
were trying to leave. Sara didn’t fully understand Emily’s attitude towards
this either, but gave her the benefit of the doubt and chalked it up to not
wanting us to get into trouble.

Rachael on the other hand seemed like
she couldn’t have cared less. “It’s none of my business what you two do,” was
her comment to Emily’s disapproval one evening.

She actually seemed to enjoy
Alex’s company that first night. He’d gone over a few other evenings since. Of
course Rachael liked to tease us when we were all together at meal times, which
was all very mature of her.

James pretty much ignored the
whole thing. He never brought it up again after that first night. I never
really brought it up in front of him either. James and I were civil to each
other, but not close. As each day passed, he became more and more focused on
the training and only the training, causing the distance between him and the
rest of us to continue to grow. At meal times, it seemed he had less and less
to say. It was like he was trying to keep emotional space with the rest of us.
Maybe the feelings he had for Sara were stronger than I’d considered and the
relationship Sara and I had was hard for him to see.

Brian never said much about the
whole thing, not that he ever said much to begin with. I liked Brian, he seemed
like a good guy, but he didn’t seem quite comfortable with being there, which
was understandable. To differing degrees, none of us were. For some, it was
easier. For the last week it had been easier for me. I had a distraction from the
strangeness of it in the form of Sara, but he didn’t have someone he felt
completely comfortable with.

Alex was like a brother to me and,
like a brother, gave me a hard time about my time alone with Sara. His comments
didn’t bother me.

The PTD training went well, with no
serious accidents. We all picked up on it rather quickly; there really was
nothing that complicated to the controls. The key advantage with the PTD,
besides the coolness factor of being able to teleport, was the ability to get
the jump on your target. With no approach there was no time for a target to
react. The most difficult part using it, at first, was learning how to
accurately estimate the distance you wanted to jump. Unfortunately, this was a task
where our abilities didn’t give any kind of advantage. It took repeated
practice until our normal non-super powered brains got it.

It took me a while to master. After
a week, Rachael still tended to over-estimate her distances and of course Alex
always found a way to work distances into conversations, giving her a hard time
about it. It was good someone wasn’t afraid to dish it out to Rachael. She did her
fair share of dishing too.

Sara seemed almost to be a
natural in estimating. Most of the time, James was the quickest to learn new
things, but in that case Sara was first. She nailed it on her first attempt.

“So how much longer are we going
to be stuck in this building?” Rachael whined at the group during dinner.

We were seated at one of the long
tables in our small plain eating area. The table was fully stocked with baked
chicken, roasted potatoes, warm bread and buttered corn. We were each on at
least our second helping. Alex and I were on our third. At least the food the
HUB provided was good.

I fixed a fake annoyed look at
her. “Didn’t you bring this up just yesterday?”

The truth was she’d brought it up
every other day for the previous two weeks.

“One month down, two to go,” Alex
said.

Rachael vented once more. “I
think we need to stage a break out. I need fresh air or at least a change of
scenery. I’m going crazy in here. I don’t know why it is so damn important we
stay locked up this whole time.”

Alex put his arm around her. “I’ll
break out with you, as long as the food is still this good on the outside. You
promise me that and I’m golden.”

Surprisingly James joined the
conversation. “They have reasons for keeping us isolated. They want to make
sure we get all we can in these three months without any distractions. I’m sure
we’ll have more freedom once ready for missions.”

Rachael scoffed. “Come on. They’re
just worried about the flight risk. They want to make sure we’re fully
brainwashed before giving us a taste of freedom.”

“We all agreed to be here,” James
responded smartly “If you think they’re somehow just brainwashing us, why did
you agree to stay?

“James, can I just vent some
steam without you sticking up for your buddy Batton,” Rachael spat back.

James didn’t say anymore. I think
Rachael intimidated him. It was a little harsh. James definitely had his faults
and he wasn’t my favorite person, but it was obvious he was having a hard time
and something was causing him to withdraw inside himself. I told myself I’d man
up and try to talk with him later.

“Speaking of Batton, that guy is
getting unbearable. Caldwell and Masters are both decent enough, but Batton
just can’t help but be an ass. The only upside is Matthew is here to balance
him out some,” Alex complained.

Sara laughed. “Masters? She’s as
bad as Batton. I don’t think I’ve seen her smile once since the first day. It’s
doubtful she even owns a personality. You just think she’s hot.”

“I think there’s something a
little wild behind that stone cold demeanor of hers and I am going to be the
one to gets her to let down her hair,” Alex admitted putting his hands behind
his head and leaning back with a wide grin.

“You’re a pig,” Sara said laughing
and threw a roll at his face.

He caught it in his teeth. “Oink,
oink,” The pig sounds were funny in his deep voice.

“They’re career military and take
this stuff seriously. I guess they just don’t find the humor in it. They’re
trying to get us ready as soon as they can. I can’t blame them for that,” Emily
piped in.

I snapped back. “We all know the
seriousness of the situation. Hell, we’re a direct result of it.” I hadn’t
meant to sound so angry, but I guess it was Emily’s attitude lately getting to
me.

“I know. I’m just saying I can
see their perspective.”

I sensed a little irritation in
her voice. She sure had changed over the last week. At first, she was carefree and
light spirited. Now she was always so serious. It seemed Sara and I was to
blame for that.

“…. these …. stup …man ….,” I
heard short jumbled nonsense accompanied by a short sharp pain in my temple as
I was listening to Emily.

I could make out only a few
sounds and at first, I dismissed what I thought I’d heard. It had sounded like
Emily’s voice, but was in addition to the words she was actually saying.

The pain began to fade and though
I certainly thought what had just happened was strange, I was about to dismiss
it when I felt the sharp jab and heard it again.

“… jus …. job … ould … on ….,” I
heard the voice; Emily’s broken voice, say again. This time, Emily’s lips
hadn’t been moving.

“What was that?” I asked without
thinking.

Emily looked irritated. “I was
just saying I can see their perspective and we just need to be patient with the
training process and continue to focus on getting ready for active missions.”

I’d heard that.

“Ok. We’re stuck here for two
more months. We’ll make it. We may drive each other crazy but at least we’ll be
highly trained crazy people. On second thought, crazy people trained to kill
probably isn’t the end product they’re wanting. Oh well,” Alex said with a
shrug.

Everyone laughed. I was a little
distracted, but laughed as well. There was even an effort of a smile from
James.

I wasn’t sure what had just
happened or if anything had just happened. It was really weird though. I swore I’d
heard Emily’s voice.

I was sitting next to Sara and I glanced
over and saw she was looking at me, questioning with some concern on her face.
I guess I probably showed some on mine. Trying to wipe away any indication of
concern, I smiled warmly at her and gave her hand a soft reassuring squeeze
under the table to let her know nothing was wrong.

That night when Sara and I met,
she wasn’t acting as she had been. She seemed a little withdrawn and distracted.
Her usual display of warmth and brightness was dimmed by something. Deciding to
avoid the growing drama that was Emily, we’d met each other this time. When I
arrived she was already there and I sat down next to her.

“So, is the sleep deprivation
starting to get to you yet?” I asked, trying break past whatever was on her
mind.

She smiled and leaned into me.
The warmth of her body was a comfort. “I actually haven’t even noticed. I think
whatever’s lacking in sleep has been more than offset by how happy I’ve been
over the last week. I wouldn’t give up our nights together for anything.”

“Maybe these new and improved
bodies don’t need as much sleep as we think they do,” I suggested.

Sara looked thoughtful. “Maybe. I
think there’s a lot we don’t know about these new and improved bodies. Was
everything okay at dinner tonight? You seemed a little distracted or I don’t
know… something seemed to be bothering you.”

I hadn’t wanted to bring that up
because I didn’t even know what had happened, if anything. I didn’t really know
how I would explain it. I’d promised Sara I’d be completely open and honest
about everything though, so I gave it a try.

“I’m not quite sure. I mean
something strange happened, at least I think it did. It was all so quick and
unintelligible. It’s kind of hard to explain,” I said before trying to gather
my words.

She reassured me with a squeeze
at my shoulder. “Please try. Have you been getting the headaches as well?”

At this, I quickly turned to her.
“You’ve been getting headaches?” Concern overcame me.

“Please, just tell me what
happened,” she said

I wanted to know about the
headaches, but felt I should go ahead and explain what happened at dinner
before she’d tell me more. I explained the two short instances where I felt the
sharp pain in my temples followed by Emily’s jumbled voice that seemed more
ethereal rather than to be coming from her mouth.

“It was like her voice was being
received and processed by my ears and brain as if she was talking with bad
reception, but she hadn’t been talking.”

“Are you sure it was Emily’s
voice?” she asked.

“I guess I can’t be sure, but it
sounded like her and it happened as I was focused on the conversation with her.”

Sara looked thoughtful for a few
seconds. “I have an idea. Focus your attention on me, on my thoughts. Look at me
and try to see if you can hear anything.”

I was struck by what she was
suggesting. “Do you think I was hearing Emily’s thoughts before?”

“It’s just a theory. We won’t
know unless you try to make it happen again.”

I thought what she was proposing
was ridiculous, but did as she asked.

“Okay, I’ll give it a try, but I’m
not quite sure how it happened before.”

“Just focus on me. Wonder what it
is I’m thinking right now,” she said.

Sara seemed to jump quickly to
mind reading as a plausible explanation. I wondered if it was happening to her
as well. Could she hear other people’s thoughts? Could she hear mine?

“Can you hear anything yet?”

I actually hadn’t tried yet but
didn’t bring up that point. “Not yet.”

I focused on Sara, stopping first
to admire her soft face for a second before moving on and into her deep eyes. I
wondered what she thinking at that moment. I couldn’t see how willing myself to
hear her thoughts would make it happen, but I tried. It was only a matter of
seconds when I felt the sudden pain at my temples, stabbing and sharp. I
cringed. With the pain, came Sara’s voice, not clearly but broken,
unintelligible. I continued to focus, trying to ignore the pain. Her voice didn’t
go away and the longer I stayed focused, the clearer it started to sound. She
was thinking something over and over, a short phrase. I couldn’t make out the
words, but could hear the pattern of sound. The pain’s edge began to dull as I
continued to concentrate until it was more of a deep throb. Finally, I was able
to make out the phrase she was repeating in her head.