The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children (25 page)

My nails nearly tore through my palms. “So…she wasn’t sold overseas?”

“No, Ms. Surrontez is very much in the States. And we plan to keep her here since she is of use to us. Which is where you come in.”

I swallowed. What did Dan and I have to do with any of this?

Stanley sighed and placed his hands over his stomach. “You see, I didn’t expect you, Ms. Wright, to unfold the structure of the Institutes as you did. I should have been more careful with your abilities and letting them develop. In fact, I should have taken you out first, even before Lauraline Cunning, who posed a similar threat.”

The tips of my nose and lips grew numb.

“Normally, I would dispose of you both. I have no use for defiant executioners. But it would be such a waste. Such a waste, indeed…” The air in the room thickened with every word he spoke. Get it out, already! “So I’ve decided to give you a choice.”

“What choice?” Dan grew all the more suspicious.

“You have two options.” Stanley held up two fingers. “One is obvious. It is the choice I asked Ms. Wright to make before, only now you have to make it as well, Daniel. I’m lenient that way. You may choose which of you will live. But, of course, that person must also execute the other.”

I took in a sharp gasp, my heart banged against my ribcage, and Daniel’s face sunk in.

“The executioner will then continue private studies under Lenora and will become an instructor at one of the other institutes.”

“What’s the second option?” My voice shook. There had to be a better one. There had to!

Stanley grinned. “The second option would be best for us all. And I would like for you to thoroughly consider it. As I mentioned, the offspring of two contaminated individuals would most likely turn out contaminated…”

My jaw loosened. No…he had to be kidding…

“You sick freak!” Dan screamed.

Stanley’s voice remained calm as ever. “Breed or kill. All I’m saying is you should consider it. You will have three days to decide. By the end of the third day, if you are both still alive, Ms. Wright will be examined. Of course I know it’s impossible to conceive in such a short time, but I just want to be sure we’re on the same team. You see, Ms. Surrontez told me you were still a virgin when I asked…
nicely.
If you have failed to make a choice,
I
will choose who lives and who dies.”

“You bastard, what did you do to Eva?! You can’t do this!” I shouted, tears streaming from my eyes, ready to start at him and hit him with every limb, but Stanley’s men had barged into the room when he pressed a silver button on his desk and restrained Dan and me.

“Most assuredly, I can, Ms. Wright. I am this country’s only hope. And you will become a part of that.”

“Hold on a minute, isn’t that a bit much?” Lenora finally stood from the wall. Dan and I both stared at her in shock. Even the tears in my eyes momentarily dried. “They’re children, you said so yourself!”

“Are you defying me, Jayden?” Stanley’s voice was ice. She stiffened. “I know what punishment is best for defiance. And these
children
deserve it.”

Lenora bit her lip and folded her hands behind her back. “Yes, sir.”

I had never seen Lenora address anyone formally. It made her seem younger, almost our age. I jerked when she sent me a glare. Or, no, not a glare. Was that a look of…concern?

I didn’t have a chance to figure it out because Stanley’s men forced us out.

Only one thought shot through my mind: I didn’t want to die.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT—Day One

T
he room they locked us in had the same layout as the dorm rooms: two queen-sized beds, a bathroom, a wide floor-to-ceiling arch window, and a miniature kitchen. It wasn’t as fancy, but it had all the necessities to live. Well, except for internet. We were our own source of entertainment. The thought of that creeped me out in more ways than one. But it could be worse. I could still be alone in that other bleak room. That was worse…right?

I looked at Dan with hesitance. He didn’t look at me.

“Let’s not talk about it,” said Dan, his voice hollow. “Just for today. We can figure out what to do tomorrow. But I can’t…”

“Okay,” I said, and granted him a small smile, one he fought to return. “We don’t have to talk about it. But then…what do we talk about?”

He said nothing, looked straight ahead, and went to sit on his bed. Maybe Dan had the right idea. Maybe we shouldn’t talk at all. The more we did, the more difficult it would become.

Yet the less we talked, the further we would drift apart in our own minds. Was that what he wanted? For us to become so emotionally detached that we might even
consider
…

I shivered. I couldn’t. I’d never hurt Dan. I’d never hurt anyone.

Yet as my head turned to the miniature kitchen, I realized something. Kitchen. Kitchen meant there were knives. Even if he’d never physically hurt another, Dan had already killed someone; I hadn’t. He knew the guilt, but he was also more experienced. He knew the feeling of death by his own hand. I had only spilled blood in virtual reality. My skin crawled. I really didn’t feel like talking anymore either.

I could sense my abilities were back. I’m not sure how, but the air felt sharper, and my stomach more taut, like I could predict the outcome of anything. Which I pretty much could. And that also meant Dan had his abilities back too… Good thing I knew how to stop them.

My first question was: were there any bugs in the room? Not literal bugs, of course. Cameras. Listening devices. The stuff they had laced the rest of the school with, save for the basement. My eyes shot to every nook and corner, but my senses didn’t tingle. I breathed out. It was safe. Well—you know—“safe.”

I went to lie on my bed, just as Dan had, staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, only in the opposite direction; I put my head at the foot of my bed. We lay like that for about an hour. It began to rain. The water drops punched the window with as much effect as we had in conducting a plan to get out of here.

“Why…did you help Hailie?” Dan finally said. Oh, so he felt like talking now? Or had it been eating away at him for some time?

I breathed in and out, still looking up. “When I heard my mom had gone missing…I tried to run away. I fell in the woods. I lay there for hours, wishing someone, anyone would come to help. Even you.” I paused and my words strained the atmosphere. I moistened my throat and laughed shortly. “I even wondered if bears or wolves would eat me.”

Dan scoffed. “Bears? Seriously?”

“What, it’s a forest!” I looked at him and for an instant our smiling eyes met, our worries forgotten, and we laughed. But the laughter faded, and hopelessness took its place.

“That’s when I realized…superheroes didn’t exist in real life. Not even heroes, really. No one would come to save me. I had to save myself. And when Hailie fell…all I could think about was how it had felt to lie there, numb and helpless. Wishing someone would hear you. Come to your aid. Help you up and take care of you.”

“I’m sorry,” Dan said and I looked at him in surprise.

“For what?”

“You were hurt that day. And I…I took advantage.”

“No, you didn’t. I
asked
you to tell me your secret. I asked for it.”

“You didn’t
ask
me to scare the crap out of you, Donna! No one asks for that!” he spat and I looked abashed.

“Sorry. I was just trying—”

“To make me feel better? Yeah, well, I don’t,” he said.

Our eyes met again, and this time lingered with a hidden pain behind them. Dan suddenly turned his back to me, curled up, and said, “I’m gonna nap.”

“What? Right now? You’ve been lying there for over an hour.”

“Haven’t slept,” he mumbled and I understood. From the night since he got beat up and Hailie got hurt, to his trial and then this…how much sleep could he have possibly gotten?

I chewed on my lip. “Sleep well,” I said. His shoulders stiffened for a moment and then relaxed.

I still had a lot of thinking to do. But as much as I tried to keep awake, the rain reminded me of the waterfall, and made my stomach squirm. I had to put my thoughts away for a while. Nothing made sense anymore.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE—Daydream

I
don’t daydream. My emotions are far too ruled by logic, whether I like it or not. And I’ve certainly never had a dream in the middle of the day. But here I was, dreaming.

Most people absorb their dreams, and get lost in them. Not me. I know when I’m dreaming. I feel like a spectator trapped in someone else’s body. The worst part was, I now knew they always meant something.

Dan hovered over me in the dark. I could make out the features of his face. His hair hung down towards me. I lay unguarded and rigid beneath him.

“Pick one,” he said, his voice deep, a murmur in his chest. “Pick me.”

He bent down and his weight overwhelmed me. My head turned away from him. My hair veiled my face just as I pulled out a knife from behind the mattress and plunged it into his stomach.

I woke up in a cold sweat, shot up right from bed. It was still midday. Like some kind of Shakespearian nightmare.

Dan stared at me, now turned in my direction. How long had he watched me sleep?

“Bad dream?” he said. I must have twitched a lot.

I nodded. “Mmm. The worst.”

“I can imagine.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I shot back.

“You said my name.”

I reddened momentarily. “Th-That wasn’t…the worst part.”

“Oh?” He shifted in place. “I get it.”

Did he really? I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to go there either. We weren’t supposed to talk about it. I decided to change the topic.

“Is your mom… Is she, you know, okay?”

He didn’t reply for a while, as though he were in another plane, in another time. “If you’re wondering if she’s mentally stable, she’s fine. I haven’t seen her in years. As you heard, she doesn’t remember me anymore, or Lenora.”

“Lenora?”

“Yeah. I know I haven’t told you yet, but I swear it was only to keep you…to protect you. She’s my sister.”

My eyes widened and I sat up bolt right. “Your
sister
? What is this, the Adams family?!”

His lip quirked. “I know, right?” He sighed at the ceiling. “Wish it were different.”

“So…your Dad’s the founder of the Institutes and your sister is one of the instructors… And you were assigned to be the Executioner. That’s pretty much as messed up as it gets.”

“Yup.”

I slumped back into my bed. How could Dan’s family have gotten so disturbed?

As though he read my thoughts, Dan said, “It’s those stupid abilities. Like we’re cursed to destroy others. Like my father’s hatred got passed on through our genes.”

“You’re wrong.” My voice ached.

“How do you know?” he said, his eyes heavy.

My face brightened. “I know…because I was born to know. The chances that you’re like your father…are the lowest of the low.”

Dan actually grinned. “You lying?”

I shook my head. My eyes did not break away from his. “Not a chance.”

That seemed to appease him. “Even if you were…I’d trust you.”

I blinked. “Really?”

“God, Donna,” he said, suddenly fervent, and sat up. I sat up as well, startled. “I’d trust you with my life.”

Blood drained from my face as I stared at his resolute one. How should I reply to that? Honestly, I
didn’t
trust Dan with my life. He was the killer. But for him to say he trusted me…I didn’t know what to say. So I decided to be honest.

“I…can’t say the same.”

His expression didn’t change. If anything, it was more reaffirmed. “Good. Don’t.”

Two feelings surged through my body: fear and pleasure. Did those mix well at all? They felt nice, and at the same time dangerous. I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to be afraid of Dan. I
wanted
to trust him, to believe he wouldn’t hurt me. But how?

Maybe if I got him to open up, he might show a side of him I haven’t seen. The side I knew existed, but up to this point had only believed in it blindly.

I gathered my knees in and leaned my chin against them. “You know, since before I came to the LeJeune, I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer. I thought that was the best way for me to serve justice. But…after what your dad—” Dan stiffened “—I mean Von revealed, I can’t picture myself working under a law that money can so easily manipulate. I guess we can’t blame it, though, can we? It’s how we designed it. Real justice should come without a price. So I think I’d much rather be a detective. My abilities would suit it just right, and I could help more people.”

“I can’t really picture that,” said Dan.

“Why not?”

“The thought of you spending your time solving crimes. I don’t like it.”

I shook off the heat from my cheeks. “Not solving crimes, but stuff like finding missing children. I know that can be sad, but in some cases, there’s a chance they can be found again. Like if they ran away from home.”

My eyes shot to his and he looked away.

“Hey, I got an idea!” His eyes came back to me in question. “Let’s play truth or dare. Only rules are that we can’t do two of the same thing in a row, and we can’t talk about you-know-what, okay? I mean, we’ve got time to kill. I’ll even volunteer to go first.”

He observed me carefully as though he wondered what scheme I had up my sleeve. I blushed a bit. I could only guess his typical need to rise to the challenge would give way.

Dan smirked. “You’re on.” Bingo.

I grinned. “Truth.”

“Why are you so competitive?”

That was fast. And of all the questions! It’s what I should be asking him instead.

I exhaled heavily. “You know I’m pretty sure not even the best psychologist in the world could answer that question.”

“Donna,”
he said my name with a raise of the brow. I didn’t play fair and we had only started. I gave in.

“I guess there’s this one event… It’s how I became friends with Maggie. A girl I knew since elementary school. We had these trends among our classmates. Usually technology related, since gadgets depended on how much money your family had. I never had trouble in that respect, but Maggie’s folks were dirt poor. And more than technology, some people were really into video games. I didn’t really take interest in it back then, but my parents had bought me the latest Playstation. Maggie was super friendly, and still is. She asked around if she could come over one of our classmates’ houses to play a game that had been released on the newest console. The replies she got were more along the lines of, ‘You can’t play, you’ll only slow us down. It’s not like you have the game at home yourself. Stop leeching off us.’ She didn’t let it bother her, but then they started harassing her because she was poor. It was horrible. I couldn’t just stand by and watch. So I challenged one of the kids to a gaming duel. If I could score more points, they’d leave Maggie alone for good. But if I didn’t…I’d have to come to school dressed like the gaming character.” I shivered. The memory licked me like a humongous cat tongue. “I…can’t remember what the game was, something dumb.” No way I’d tell Dan, I’d die of embarrassment, but he seemed more interested in the outcome than the outfit. “I’d never played the game before so I stayed up all night trying to learn the moves. It was weird how quickly I caught on, so I knew I had a good chance. No, a great chance. The next day, I came to their house for the gaming duel. Many of the classmates were there, including Maggie. She supported me all the way, and I totally had full confidence I’d win. We started the game and I was on fire. I ranked up points like crazy, neck to neck with my opponent. But then that giant beaver came out of nowhere, I swear! And I was so close…”