The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children (28 page)

“Snap out of it, they’re human beings! Call them back right now or I swear I’ll have nothing to do with you!”

His mouth twitched slightly and his cold eyes fell on me. I could no longer see a glimmer in them. Dan had changed. Horribly. But it was just his brain. The steroid induced something, I just didn’t know what. “All right.” He walked into the hallway after them and said, “All of you, disregard my last command. Leave this Institute and never return. Now!”

The bark of his voice startled even me. It was so…effective. It gave me chills. Was he too powerful now? Did it mess with his mind somehow? It seemed like I could still get through to him, though.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Daniel looked straight ahead with his indifferent expression. Stanley must have walked out onto the hallway.

“What have you done?!… Don’t listen to him!” Stanley snarled again as he beat his way through the mind-controlled bodies. They stopped in place, but the effect wasn’t entirely gone. Their minds were a battlefield between Dan and his father, each tugging on opposite ends. Hopefully, they wouldn’t rip.

I came to stand beside Dan, between him and Stanley. Lenora was there too, behind her father. She didn’t look quite as infuriated as Stanley, but her face still bore signs of surprise. This had to end now, and it wouldn’t end pretty with Dan in his current state. I didn’t want him to shed more blood. He’d never forgive himself. Especially if that blood belonged to his father. 

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN—Remorse

“I
listened to what you said before, you know,” Dan told Stanley. “How you couldn’t undo a more permanent command. I should have dealt with you a long time ago. And I shouldn’t have made Mom forget you. I should have made
you
forget yourself.”

Stanley’s jaw shifted. “If you don’t call them back, Daniel, they’ll go out into the world knowing about your abilities. You’ll become a hunted man, and so will your girlfriend. Don’t you understand that’s the reason I created the Institutes? To protect young, innocent children from the harsh reality of hate. Of discrimination and prejudice. They will never accept you for what you are. You can’t live in society. You can only serve society. That means you are above them. Your life will mean more than dozens of theirs combined. Don’t be a fool, Daniel.”

A barrage of knives churned in my stomach. He wouldn’t…

Dan smirked. “Heh. Watch me care.” He then took a deep breath and commanded again, “All of you, do not listen to a word Von van Vaughn says. Leave, now!”

They turned on their heel once more and left. 

“I said stay!” Stanley barked. This time they didn’t listen to him. He looked as though Dan had just slapped him and then laughed. “You took the steroid, didn’t you? That’s how you’ve affected them. How you can overpower even me. How much did you take, Daniel? Do you know it has a side effect?”

Dan scrutinized him. This was bad. I couldn’t let Stanley turn the tables. “He’s bluffing, it does not!” I shouted. But with Stanley’s abilities working on overdrive, my own were clouded again.

Stanley’s gaze fell on me and I reaffirmed my stance. “Are you absolutely sure about that, Ms. Wright? It is, after all, still experimental. And I’ve taken it for the past three years. I would know.”

“What’s the side effect?” said Dan.

“Don’t listen to him! He’s lying!”

“It affects the prefrontal cortex. The part of your brain that makes you feel remorse. So when you kill someone…you don’t feel a thing.”

I shook my head. That couldn’t be…yet…

Stanley sneered. Behind him, Lenora looked at odds with herself. “You might as well end your life, Daniel. All you’ll ever do is hurt others. You won’t feel anything, and that will just make you into, well…me.”

Dan looked lost, unsure of what to do, as though the personas of Two-Face wrestled inside of him. I panicked.

“No…Dan, don’t listen to him. You’re not a killer!” I gripped his shoulder.

“Enough!” said Stanley. “I was a fool to expect anything different from you. Lenora, finish them!”

“Stop where you are, Lenora,” Dan commanded, but she didn’t obey. Stanley grinned manically. The steroid must have worn itself out. As powerful as it was, it seemed to give a surge of strength that Dan had already used up to fight his father.

“Wait!” I shielded Dan and protruded a hand. My eyes shone with urgent tears. Stanley was too much of a coward to kill us himself. No matter how little remorse he felt, he’d never be the one to kill his own son. That was it! The one thing Lenora had cared about all along. The reason she put up with Stanley. He held her in a prison of the mind. Taking away her son, drugging her with a substance that made her feel no remorse. If I could just break the spell he had over her…

She wasn’t a bad person. I had to believe that! “I can find Charlie! I can find your son.”

Stanley turned livid. “She’s lying,” he said coldly. 

“She’s not! It’s part of her ability. She can guess anything. Even a location,” said Dan.

“This is ridiculous! I’m the only one who knows where your son is. Jayden!”

Lenora shed her gloves, her face unreadable. 

“Lenora, please…,” I pleaded, my voice no longer strong, just desperate.

“Shut up, you brat!” Stanley raised a hand to strike me, but Dan’s body enveloped me and Stanley’s hand formed into an angry claw.

In Dan’s arms, I could only hear what was going on. “You’re right, Dad,” said Lenora. “Enough is enough.”

“What did you just—?”

There came a choking sound. Dan released me and I pried my eyes open to see the nails of both of Lenora’s hands dug into the sides of Stanley’s neck. His skin turned completely green and foam formed at his mouth. Lenora released him and he fell, twitched, and moved no more.

The sharp breath I took forced my scream to stay inside my throat.

Lenora looked down at Stanley’s body as involuntary tears slipped quietly down her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She sounded more sorry that it had come to this, not that she’d actually killed him.

Another group of Stanley’s men ran into the room. It seemed he must have signaled some kind of alarm just before he died.

“What the hell happened here?” one of the guards said.

“Get them! They murdered him!” Lenora pointed her poisonous finger at us. Dan and I backed away. She cast us one last meaningful glance and mouthed “Go” before I grabbed Dan’s hand. We whirled like the wing of an eagle and set off running.

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT—Return

D
an and I ran down sixteen flights of stairs. I don’t know how we did it without falling, or breaking our hands, but we did. We caught on that the men and women in our pursuit thought to outsmart us and took the elevator. We stopped short and exited on the second floor. There was but one exit on that floor, the exit to the cliff.

Students’ heads turned to gape at us as though they had lost their minds.

“Hey, weren’t you—?”

“Dead? Yes. We were supposed to be,” I wanted to say.

“Move!” Dan ordered instead, and they instantly leapt out of our way. We ignored their blurring faces and ran outside. The freezing wind slammed into us. I looked to Dan, not sure what he was thinking. There was no way off here.

“You wanna jump with me?” he said and gripped my hand even tighter. I couldn’t imagine my expression in that moment, but I must have looked like a lobster about to be thrown into a boiling pot.

“Are you suicidal?!”

“It’s the only way.” He looked back and licked his lips. We couldn’t head through the forest, even if we did go that way. We had to erase our tracks completely. I looked down. The rain had luckily melted most of the ice, and for once I was grateful for the bizarre alternating weather at the Lakes. I must be insane, because I nodded.

“Take a deep breath just before we hit the water,” said Dan. “When we break through, pull your head back and suck in as much air as you can. You’ll do so involuntarily, but just don’t do it after your head’s gone under, go it? You won’t be able to hold it, so spring up right away.”

Yeah, I’d lost my mind. Thank God Dan at least knew what he was doing. He probably got the training when he volunteered for the underwater event.

“I don’t think I can do this—”

“Too late! You won’t go to jail on my watch.” He laced our hands together.

I winced. Jail or ice cold water? Though a nice warm cell at a juvenile detention center did sound tempting, the probability that I’d survive this jump actually wasn’t half bad. 

“Donna, I need you to focus. Are you with me?”

Half bad or half mad, I nodded again.

We braced for the sprint just as the guards spilled out of LeJeune behind us. As we leaped through the air, towards the water several dozen feet below, a thought crossed my mind. I always imagined my life would flash before my eyes if I believed myself about to die. Instead, I wondered why Lenora had blamed us for Stanley’s death and then let us go? As the wind rushed through our clothes and numbed our flesh, I realized that was the only way. Only if she was blameless would she inherit the Institutes after her father. Only then would she have the chance to set things right. If we weren’t blamed for his murder, the horror would continue. She had to make us into scapegoats, and set us free.

The crash against the water was much like that against asphalt. I thought my bones might break, so I just tightened my grip on Dan’s hand so the waves wouldn’t rip us apart or swallow us whole. I remembered to pull my head back just as he instructed and felt cold air get sucked into my mouth as if into a vacuum just before it met the water. We were submerged in the icy water for a few seconds. The mix of air and water did not give my brain a chance to really register the temperature. But the pressure in my lungs instantly reminded me I had to pull up or die as all the air left my lungs. Then the freeze hit, and I nearly sunk at the icy grip of the water. The need for oxygen outbalanced the tormenting temperature and we thrust upward above the waves, gasping for air. My teeth chattered before I even had a chance to breathe properly. I panicked when I tried to move my legs and they wouldn’t budge. My arms were the only thing keeping me afloat.

“A-Are y-you ok-kay?” Dan said.

I nodded. My head shook as I did so. “Mm-Mhm. S-Sort off. M-My legs w-wont m-m-move. A-Are y-you?”

He nodded back. “B-Be okay,” he said, which I’m pretty sure meant it would wear off. I hoped. His teeth bounced off each other. I looked around. Waves crashed into the rocks behind us. The beach was several yards away. No way we could swim through this icy water. I could barely keep myself afloat. What had we been thinking?

“D-Dan I-I don’t think w-we’ll make i-it,” I said.

He shook his head. “Y-You will.”

I furrowed my brow. “Wh-What?”

“D-Donna…I have to g-go back.”

Suddenly, I forgot the cold. I forgot everything. What was he saying?

“Wh-Why?!”

“L-Lenora,” was all he said, and all he needed to say. I understood. “O-One of us has t-to s-stay. Or they’ll ch-chase us both.”

I nodded, swallowing. I wanted to cry, but couldn’t. The lake had frozen my tear ducts.

“Y-You have a f-family waiting f-for you,” he said and nodded again. I wish he would stop nodding. I didn’t want to nod anymore.

“Yeah,” I said, my teeth no longer trembling. I put my tongue between them. I then grew angry. No. No, I wouldn’t let him do this. Even if Lenora could find a way to vindicate him without shifting the fault back onto herself. He belonged with me.

I shook my head. “Y-You’re coming with me!” I grabbed his arm tightly and he looked at me like he actually considered it.

“Wh-What are th-the odds y-you’ll make it t-to shore?” he asked.

“F-Fifty n-nine percent,” I said. I’ve had better.

He then took my face in his hands as he had done before. I tried to cover my ears but he fought my hands off. I whimpered as though in physical pain. He said, “You will swim to shore. Alone. You’re going to make it. And you won’t look back. Go, now.”

He forced his teeth not to chatter just so that the diction would come out right. Just so he could control me. My lip trembled.

Then something happened. Or rather, didn’t. I wasn’t going anywhere. He looked at me strangely.

“Wh-Why are you s-still here?” His eyes searched my face.

I recalled what Lenora said. Dan couldn’t control someone he loved.

I broke out into a grin and brought his mouth to mine. My hand ran through his wet hair as he gripped me so tight that for a moment I didn’t feel the cold. His head tilted to kiss me even deeper and I ran my hand across his jaw, absorbing every ounce of warmth I could from our lip lock. A funny buzzing halo skimmed across my skin from where my flesh met the water. It warmed me down to my toes and my legs could move again. I guess that gave the term “weak-kneed” a whole new definition.

The kiss was not a kiss, nor a kiss goodbye. It was goodbye itself. In acknowledging that he loved me, I also had to acknowledge that Dan would not follow me to shore.

In that moment, I connected why Dan had asked me where I had learned how to swim; the slip about jumping off the cliff in the command he gave to Von’s guards; and the underwater entrance to the Institute right below us. He planned this.

He pushed me away slowly. Our kiss severed with the pluck of my bottom lip like the section of a fruit. I had to let go. Dan was right. If one of us didn’t stay, we’d spend our entire lives running.

So I did as he said of my own will. I swam to shore. And I didn’t look back even once.

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE—Rescue

M
y vision blurred with hot tears. The only warmth left in my body. I wouldn’t make it. My muscles simply couldn’t function in this cold anymore, as if I swam in a gigantic ice pack. Like freezing gears, they turned slower and slower, and I was still a long way from shore. I only saw the outline of the cliffs and the beach, my stomach filled with plenty of lake water. And in my deliria, I thought I saw a gray shape swim toward me. Its ears and whiskers poked out of the water. Was that…it couldn’t be…a lynx?