“Lucky them.” Justine’s tone became sarcastic. “I never got to use a Taser on a real person before, just on the dummies. I’m going to need more assistance from you.”
“You’re the lucky one.” I tried to keep my annoyance at bay but failed. “It doesn’t feel good to hurt people, even if they’re criminals. You saw the videos in class. Their bodies shake like they’ve been electrocuted, and then they fall on the ground lifeless.”
Mitch made his way to the center. “Ava’s right. It’s awful, but you’re helping our society. It will get easier every time knowing you’re keeping everyone safe. No one knows you exist. No one knows your name. You joined ISAN, not for the fame, but because you’re special. You want to be somebody. You want to make a difference. You got out of detention for a reason. Destiny chose you.”
Sometimes destiny sucks. I thought of my mom. The only person in the world who had loved me had died too young. Sometimes destiny is wrong. I thought about my abusive foster father and wondered how the hell the social worker could have sent me to someone like him. Sometimes destiny presents a new journey ... maybe. The message on my TAB came to mind.
Before he had a chance to finish the rest of the sentence, Justine interrupted. “So, how long have you worked here? I’ve never seen you before. I would’ve noticed you.”
“I’ve been here longer than you.” Mitch paced between the station tables, assessing the weapons. “In fact, I know all your records. Your height, your weight, and every bit of personal information you don’t want me to know. I get into your business, but you don’t get into mine, got it?” His sharp tone shut Justine up quick. Especially when he ended his sentence standing in front of her.
Justine dared to meet his gaze with an obsequious grin, and then cowered. Nobody asked questions after that. I went straight to my assigned station and waited for his instructions.
Mitch pointed his gun at the ceiling. “Let me refresh your memory. This is a 9-millimeter Luger, which you have seen before. This is deadly. I repeat, deadly. Don’t point it at anyone unless you plan to kill the person. Keep it pointing down at all times, especially when you’re running. In order to shoot, you must first release the safety lock on the side. Right here.” Mitch pointed to it and released the handle.
“You see these? Eight bullets in the clip, and one in the chamber ready to go. You get nine shots before you have to reload. These bullets are not made from solid lead. They are compressed air bullets. When the silver pointy part of the bullet hits the target, it will explode inside their body. After you release the clip, you get your new one and push it up like this. Don’t worry about putting on earphones because you won’t need them. These guns are not just deadly, they’re quiet, too. Now, pick up your guns.”
The gun felt cool to the touch, slightly heavy, but easy to hold with two hands.
Mitch directed us. “Hold your gun with one hand and cup it for support with your other. Arms firm, but not tight. Relax, or else the recoil will hurt your arm.”
Mitch helped Justine, Brooke, and then Tamara hold the guns properly. Then it was my turn.
“Relax, Ava.” His soft voice helped me unwind and the musky scent of his cologne had me temporarily distracted. “There,” he cooed, his arms still wrapped over mine. “I feel you relaxing. Now look through the two sights at the top of the gun. Pretend to draw a line from the gun to your target ... just like that.” He moved us slightly to the right. “You see that dummy, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Let out your breath as you squeeze the trigger. Now you’re ready. Aim ... I’m right behind you. Actually, I’m pretty much on you so don’t be afraid. Shoot when you’re ready.”
Unsettled by his closeness, I pulled the trigger when he gave me the green light. I jerked back and let myself adjust to the recoil. The bullet flew, and, to my surprise, penetrated the dummy’s head between the eyes.
“Now do it by yourself.”
Though his words sounded encouraging, they also sounded like a demand. It took me several more tries before I successfully did it on my own.
“Not bad.” He gave me a thumbs up, then headed back to my team.
I exhaled a long, deep breath. After a few more rounds of practice, I had a handle on holding the gun and shooting the targets.
“Great job, ladies.” His words were sincere and proud. “Now, round two. You’ll be using your Tasers. In front of you, you’ll see a screen. There will be innocent civilians, but some of the civilians may be holding a gun. Only stun the ones holding the guns. Your scores will be automatically entered through the TAB data. Good luck.”
The screen glowed with real life images. To the right—a shopping plaza, a bakery, pizza store, and a coffee shop. On the left—a tall office building. When I tilted the Taser to the right, the screen shifted in the same direction. When I leaned forward, it moved me ahead. It reminded me of my foster siblings’ video games.
I shot a man holding a gun without hesitation. More figures popped out. There was no pattern I could detect, just random civilians and attackers.
Three women came at me, but only the one on the left held a gun. I shot her just as she fired. Then I shot a young girl to my right stationed at the shoe store. Shit. Not a weapon. She’d held a flashlight. No time for regret. Move onward.
My aim and differentiating whether it was a weapon became sharper. But still, occasionally, I mistook innocent items like umbrellas for guns. Even knowing the figures I’d stunned were animation, it churned my stomach, especially when I’d shot innocent bystanders.
I maneuvered swiftly street to street, and even through alleys. Focused, I became lost in the digital world. When the test ended, the screen scrolled back up. I turned to my team. They were still in the simulation. I gasped and jerked back when Mitch appeared in front of me.
“Not bad.”
“Not bad? That was horrible. I shot innocent people.” I gnawed the inside of my cheek.
“Not shot, stunned.”
“Same thing, sort of.”
“Not true, but you shot all your enemies, and your team is still searching for them. You did this without Helix.”
I shrugged. Since the others couldn’t hear us, I risked a personal question, even though he’d told us not to. “So, do you live here?”
“Sometimes.” He raked his hair back and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I’ve never seen you before.”
“Maybe I didn’t want to be seen.” His tone was light and playful.
There was something about Mitch I couldn’t wrap my head around. My gut told me not to trust him. Perhaps it was the way his blue eyes constantly studied me, and the way his answers were clipped. Or maybe I was being paranoid. But he had said, ‘I’ve been here longer than you.’ So why hadn’t I seen him around? It didn’t add up. My mind reeled with ways to find out.
Mitch grabbed a beige hand towel from his shoulder and wiped my gun and Taser. “Never leave your fingerprints.”
“So, you design these tests?”
“Do you start all your sentences with ‘so’?” He chuckled.
I frowned and whirled.
“Ava. I’m teasing. I’m sorry.” His tone dipped softer.
Surprised by his friendliness, I blinked.
“Well, aren’t you cozy? You two know each other or something?”
I hadn’t noticed his hands on my shoulders until he dropped them when Justine spoke.
Mitch backed away. “You’re supposed to stay at your post until I come.” The words came through gritted teeth.
“Why? So I can’t see what you’re doing? Just in case you care, I need help.” Justine scowled and stomped back to her post.
Bitch.
Though Justine had never shared her story of her past, I was sure she drove everyone she knew insane.
“Is she always like this?” Mitch shifted the gun and Taser on the table and tossed the towel over his shoulder.
“Only when she’s in a good mood. You shou
ld see her at her worst. Russ told us Helix had no side effects, but I think he’s wrong. I think it made her emotional and unstable.”
He chuckled and headed to Justine.
After the practice session, Mitch took us to one of the restricted areas on the eighth floor. Silence fell as the elevator whizzed upward—the longest five seconds of my life. The elevator door opened, revealing Russ with his hands behind his back and legs apart—the way I was trained to stand, no doubt out of habit for him, too. He had once been a field operative, someone like Mitch.
“Welcome back.” Russ showed no emotion, leading us down the hallway and into another room.
Something like a massive jungle gym materialized when Mitch waved a hand over the light scanner. The maze-like contraption soared to the ceiling and stretched from wall to wall. It resembled a nightmare for an adult if they were being hunted. But to a kid, it would appear to be an awesome playground.
Wooden bridges of varying sizes connected to one another, going in different directions throughout levels. Some bridges were linked to platforms that led to barrel tunnels—about ten feet tall and thirty feet long. Some seemed longer. I gasped when I saw ropes dangling from rings bolted to the walls.
Being afraid of heights, I swallowed the thought down. No use worrying in advance.
“Ladies,” Russ began, “your task is to get to the other side. You’ll start here, at this entrance. Easy enough, right?”
“Piece of cake.” Justine squared her shoulders.
“Umm ... do we work as a team or are we racing against each other?” Tamara crossed her arms and rubbed them, as if to steady her nerves.
Russ didn’t answer. Instead, he placed a hand on a metal square on the wall. A red line scanned his handprint, and a large tray slid out of the wall with four black guns and four black vests, like the ones I had to wear at team combat.
“Cool.” Justine’s eyes gleamed at first, and then her excitement disappeared. “Wait. We don’t have to shoot each other, do we?”
“No, not each other. You’ll have to outrun Mitch.”
“What?” Justine’s eyes rounded in alert. “But he’s the expert. That’s not fair.”
I brushed up against Justine. “Afraid of a little competition? Let’s show him what we’ve got.” I grabbed a black vest, slipped it on, and picked up the gun. “This feels fake.”
Russ handed the firearms to my teammates. “It’s not real. It shoots low-powered lasers instead, but it sounds and feels like the real thing. Your vest won’t protect you against a real gun. It’s laser activated and will flash when you get shot. If that happens, you’re out. However, if you get hit, you’ll feel the impact.”
Tamara gulped and blanched. With shoulders hunched, she puffed out air, like she was already defeated. Justine crossed her arms and bit her lip, and Brooke inhaled deep breaths like she was having an anxiety attack. We didn’t have much time to strategize as a group.
Think of a plan, quick, Ava. You’re their leader.
As I thought about ways I could help my team get across, Russ took out four Helix filled special syringes from the sliding wall and administered one to me. Like all HelixB77 serums, it was needleless and given to me through volatile compressed gas that passes through the permeable layers of my skin.
Brooke pulled up her zipper and pushed her hair back from her face. “Doesn’t Mitch need a vest?”
“I don’t need one. I never get hit. You ready?”
Mitch’s tone, so confident and relaxed, made Brooke pale like she had seen a ghost. He smirked and winked. Then he cocked his gun, just like he’d shown us.
His question sent shivers down my back.
“It’s time,” Russ said.
Crap. I had no plan. Run, for now. Stupid plan. Some leader I am.
“I’m counting to ten, and then I’m coming after all of you.” Mitch’s tone rang deadly. His flat eyes touched all of ours, one at a time, as he counted. “One ... two ... three ...”
“Run!” My steps pounded on the platform, adrenaline soaring through my blood. When I crossed the first small bridge, I stirred right, and Tamara trailed behind. Justine and Brooke followed suit; however, a wall jetted up from the ground to the ceiling, separating us.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Brooke. Justine.” I smacked the wall, but to no avail. I realized at that moment, they couldn’t hear me.
The wall—thick and solid—even Justine couldn’t break it down.
“This is bad.” Tamara bent forward and planted her hands on her thighs, like she was going to vomit.
“It’s okay. It’s better this way.” I placed my hand on her shoulder to give her reassurance. Although I didn’t believe my own words, I had to say something to keep Tamara from having a meltdown. “This way.”
Crossing another bridge and a short barrel tunnel, I ducked instinctively when a shot whined in my ear. Tamara grabbed me from behind, startling me even more. My heart about burst out of my chest and fear locked my muscles.
“He’s coming,” she sniveled.
I embraced her to still her trembling. “You have to calm down. You can do this.” It seemed like the right thing to say, as I tried to convince us both. Gripping Tamara’s hand tightly, I sidled, hand in hand, with my back flat against the wall.
Dozens of shots resonated, and then a loud screech of rage halted us. So soon? Only one person could make such a sound.
“Shit. I’m dead. Run, Brooke.” Justine’s voice boomed throughout the room.
“It’s okay,” I said. “We have a chance. He’s on to Brooke. Let’s go.”
I trudged my way through more barrel tunnels with charged energy, my steps echoing. If Mitch hadn’t known where I was, he did now. Then I hopped onto a longer and wobbly bridge connected by wooden beams. Once again, my steps loud as I raced across from plank to plank, more shots raining behind me.
“Wait.” Tamara halted, out of breath. “Are you going the right way?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know? You’ve never been on this thing before. I feel lost, like a mouse in a maze. We keep going on bridge after bridge and tunnel after tunnel. We’re going in circles.”
“I don’t know how to explain it, but I just know the way when Helix is inside me. You’re not supposed to be this scared.”
Tamara’s actions worried me, but I didn’t have time to analyze it. The serum had a different effect on each one of us. Perhaps it didn’t help her as much, or she needed more rounds of mental missions to help her calm her fears.
“You’ve got to trust me. Are you coming?” I tapped my foot rapidly, trying to calm my anxiety flooding like a broken dam.
She nodded, terror filling her eyes. “Yes. Russ told the newbies your mind worked like a compass. I remember now. I trust you.”
“Good. Think of something happy. And hurry.”
I’d forgotten how to explain my special gift to new people. Though I’d never been on the obstacle course before, my mental blueprint appeared.
I climbed on the protruding man-made rock to assist my hike up a twenty-foot wall. The coarse, jagged rocks abraded my skin, making the scaling difficult. As I proceeded higher and higher off the ground, I tried not to gaze down. My muscles went rigid and my stomach recoiled from the height I’d traversed.
“Ava,” Tamara yelped. Her foot had not been secured and she crashed onto the rocks, sliding downward, but managed to stay on them.
“Tamara.” My pulse quickened, worried for her. “You’re doing fine. Just breathe and continue.” But hurry the hell up.
When Tamara caught up to me, I flung over the top and used the rope to slide down to the platform. My palms burned like they were on fire. I winced and rubbed them together. Too fast. I had descended too fast.
“Something feels hot, Ava.” Tamara rubbed at her hands and knees. She must have bumped hard on the rocks.
I’d thought Tamara was whining when she repeated her words, and I almost gave her a sarcastic remark. Sure enough,
when we rounded the bend and entered a tunnel, fire blasted. Scorching heat brushed up against me so close, I thought the flame had engulfed me. I cursed from the burning pain and rubbed my face to confirm I wasn’t on fire. My eyes stung and the smell of gas assaulted my nose.
The digitally enhanced blaze died, as if it had never happened when I backed away. I rubbed my eyes to clear the lingering smoke. Searching through my mental map, I found another way.
I clutched Tamara, my fingers around her wrist like handcuffs, and hauled her forward. “Follow me.”
I took us to another route, more vigilant than before. My map showed me the road to the exit, but it couldn’t detect unexpected surprises like the one we’d encountered.
“Watch out!” My heart lurched to my throat.
I shoved Tamara back when I took a cautious step on a cement platform. Countless sharp metal spikes poked out all at once, blocking my way. Again, digitally enhanced, but so life-like.
“Oh, God. Oh, God.” Tamara folded her arms in front of her stomach. “What now? What now?”
I stilled, and rifled through every possibility on my mental map. Hurry, Ava. Where the hell is it? There. Cleverly hidden in the dark. Grabbing Tamara’s hand, I took her to the last option.
“Trust me, and please don’t scream.”
“It’s so dark.” She stared at the pitch-dark entrance and whimpered.
I slid down a dark slide spiraling like a coil with Tamara beside me. She didn’t scream, but instead, she released a strange strangled noise when she landed on her butt.
“I’m alive.” Tamara hinted at a smile behind a mask of horror.
“Come on. We’ve gotta keep moving. We’re almost there.”
Tamara placed her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to halt. “Did you hear that?” She dabbed the sweat beading on her forehead. “I think Brooke is out. He must have caught up to her. I’m pretty sure I heard a faint scream.”
Crap. Breathe.
“Let’s go then.” I turned the corner and stopped at a gap with no bridge.