Antarctica the Dream, Itex the Reality
Valencia Martinez refused to look into his eyes. She knew that if her gaze flickered even once to his pain-stricken face, she would give in to whatever he asked. It had always been that way, ever since her days at the Lab. But now he was asking her to do something that she simply couldn't do.
"They're going to take him," Jeb Batchelder's voice was on the brink of hysterics. Avoiding his eyes won't help, Val thought to herself. His voice, which had always seemed just a bit hypnotic, was now luring her in. With each heartbreaking word she was getting closer to letting him come inside.
"They're going to take Ari. Val, please. He's only three years old," Jeb pleaded with her.
Still looking to the ground, Valencia gave him her answer once more. "I can't. I'm sorry,"
"He's in the car," Jeb tried again, "He's asleep. He has no idea what they want to do. It's to punish me, Val. They're doing it to punish me. So I had to drive him here, it was the only safe place that I knew. I told him on the drive over here that if he was a good boy and if he didn't say anything that he would get ice cream. Do you have any ice cream, Val? He likes chocolate."
Val couldn't believe this. He was rambling. Jeb Batchelder was falling apart. Usually able to handle any situation by putting on the calmest of faces, Jeb was now talking as though he were out of his mind. Actually that wouldn't be a far assessment in Valencia's book. Why did Jeb think that she would've let him in? She'd quit the Labs years ago and had lost all ties with Jeb in the process. And now here he was, on her doorstep, ages later wanting her to house him?
"I don't want to put Ella in any danger." Valencia managed to keep her voice even, which surprised her. Typically, Jeb held his composure in dire situations, and Valencia's sentences were the ones that lacked in sense and stability. When Valencia was afraid, her voice gave away any intention of hiding her fear. But not now, even though she was terrified.
A dormant dread that had always lived with her was awakened and triggered by Jeb's arrival. People who left Itex Labs were watched, she knew that, to make sure they didn't leak any secrets. Valencia had always been afraid that she would be punished for leaving, and that, as retribution, they would take Ella.
And now, Valencia realized, her deepest fear was happening to Jeb. Of all the things feeding her nightmares, Itex taking her kid was on top. And now this was happening to her ex-best friend.
No! She told herself. How are thoughts like those going to help your Resistance? No matter what he says to you, you cannot give in. No matter what.
"I gave up that life years ago, you know that. I'm trying to forgetwhat I saw back there, Jeb, I don't want to be sucked back in because of this." Good, Valencia, she told herself, no matter how desperate he sounds you must protect Ella. And yourself.
But it was getting harder with each begging word. "Please," Jeb implored, "just for tonight. Just this one time. I'll get on-line tickets to Antarctica and be out before you know it."
Jeb's fingers curled around her chin and tilted her head back. Their eyes met. Valencia cursed in her mind. This was exactly what she was trying to avoid. Because when Val met his eyes and saw the intense sorrow and deep trepidation lying beneath them, she knew she had no choice. Jeb was really worried for his son. Val could no longer hold his experiments against him, for he had set them free. The only thing she really had against her old friend was his crime of colliding her past life, something she desperately wanted to forget, and her present life.
"Okay," Valencia said, and Jeb's eyes lit up. "But just for tonight," she warned.
Jeb nodded. "I swear, just tonight. Antarctica."
Valencia shook her head, "Not a good idea. Paid any attention to the news lately? They're building a mall down there. Maybe..." Valencia would've kept talking, but she witnessed Jeb's furtive glances to his car, and allowed a breath of resignation. "Go get him," she said, "and we'll talk more inside."
Jeb nodded and retreated to his car. Valencia walked into her house, closed the door, and sighed leaning on the door in support.
What have I done? She groaned inwardly. I've practically led the devil to my doorstep. Not Jeb, Itex. How likely was it that they knew exactly where Jeb was at this moment? How likely was it that they were on their way, helicopters blazing through the skies, looking for their potential experiment? Jeb had led them right to this house, a place which she thought she could escape the horrors of her previous life. She'd started anew. She'd gone to school to become a veterinarian forgetting all about her degree in genetics. She'd gotten married, experienced the loss of a husband, but gained a beautiful little girl.
Almost as if her daughter were reading her mind, Valencia saw her 7 yr. old come down the stairs.
Perhaps Ella wasn't so little after all, but she was still old enough to run to her mother after she'd had a nightmare. Not that she would admit that she had a nightmare, but this was the routine. Ella would come out of her room and stand outside Valencia's door until Valencia came out and let Ella sleep with her. She'd been doing this less often, but tonight's nightmare had been a bad one.
"Go into the living room," Valencia ushered her daughter to the sitting room, "We've got company, I'll be there in a moment."
"They were bigger tonight," Ella said in a small voice. Valencia stopped. She had been about to open the door for Jeb—he would have his hands full with Ari—but when she heard the shaking in her daughter's voice she was deterred from her mission.
"The wolf-men?" Valencia asked.
Ella nodded. Valencia sighed, and tried to pass a ton of motherly warmth in the hug she gave Ella. Maybe it worked a little because most of the fright was gone from her voice. Now she told the story of her dream with all the amazement of a little kid, her voice shaking only slightly in the scarier parts. Valencia listened intently, nodding and gasping when appropriate to placate the seven-year-old expectations, until she heard three knocks on the door.
"Company?" Ella asked, tilting her head to peer behind her mother in shy curiosity.
Valencia nodded and went to open the door for Jeb. He carried a bundled, sleeping Ari in his arms. Having only seen a few pictures of the boy, Valencia was surprised at how beautiful he looked. Like a resting angel, his cheeks a little flushed from the cold.
Jeb mouthed another, 'Thank you,' and Val was reminded of the heft of what she was doing.
Val shot her daughter a look. Ella was gazing at the newcomers with increased interest. Go upstairs, she wanted to say. They're dangerous. Although she knew the chances of Jeb and Ari physically hurting her daughter were zero, the weight that they carried on their shoulders could pot ruin all semblance of peacefulness of her house. With Jeb's first step into her house, he'd marred any hope Valencia had still harbored of a safe return to normal life.
Of course she couldn't say these things. Her daughter wouldn't understand; the most dangerous things Ella had ever encountered had been in her dreams, safe enough so that she was able to retell them the next morning with a small smile. There was no story telling with Itex involved. It was You talk, you die. You had to bear this particular living nightmare alone.
"The guest bedroom's upstairs." Valencia said, still looking at Ella. Jeb carried the sleeping boy up the steps, carefully walking on his toes so that he didn't make a sound. With one last thankful look, he and Ari disappeared behind the bedroom door.
Valencia sighed—tonight was a night abundant in sighing—and turned back to Ella. "Now, what were you saying about their fangs?"
xXx...xXx
Valencia finally got Ella to return to bed, exhausted by the enthusiastic recap of her nightmare. When Val checked into the guest bedroom, she saw Ari and Jeb sprawled on the guest bed. Jeb held Ari tight, as if he wouldn't let Itex take him no matter what. She admired him for that, even if it was a fruitless attempt. She let Jeb sleep instead of waking him up to discuss his escape tactics. He'd had a long day; finding out that his only son was about to be genetically mutated had to exhaust him. Though she was allowing him some shut-eye, it irked her that she was the only one up, left alone with just her thoughts.
She remembered the day she left the Labs. It had been something she'd been trying to push down, far into the back reaches of her mind, but with the Jeb's return it had surfaced again.
Valencia was about to give birth to a child that would start a new series of experiments. She and Jeb had decided to embark on it themselves, and when the Director gave the okay, they had been ecstatic. At the time, presenting the project's proposal PowerPoint, neither Jeb nor Valencia expected anything to go wrong. But something did. The pregnancy was fine—well they assumed so; tests like these hadn't really been done before to compare hers to. No, Valencia had been the eventual downfall of their experiment, the one she'd been so proud of upon thinking it up.
Suddenly she felt as though it wasn't worth it. Perhaps it was her motherly instincts kicking in, but suddenly she didn't want to give up her baby. Not for the Project, not for testing or experimenting on. It was as though having a baby aboutto be experimented on opened her eyes to the babies that had been experimented on. For the first time in her employment at Itex Labs, she saw the looks of pain, desperation and hopelessness on these kids' faces. She didn't like it, and in no way did she want that happening to her baby.
She confessed her fears to Jeb. Jeb dismissed her worries; he probably thought that it was just her whacked-out pregnant hormones talking. Jeb said that as soon as she'd gone through with the birth, she'd feel a lot better about things. Valencia doubted it and officially resigned a day later.
Itex wasn't happy about that. They had already injected the fluid that would make her child "special". They could not afford losing the revolutionary child, no matter what objections the mother had. Caring about other's thoughts and opinions had never been Itex's style anyway.
When it was finally time for Valencia to have the baby, she didn't go to the hospital that Itex had picked out for her with the specialized doctors waiting to stick needles into and jot down notes about her baby. She went to another one, an entire state over. They found her any way.
She didn't know it; she had no suspicions about the sudden change of doctors. Looking back, she was so stupidly naïve back then. Unaware, Valencia went through labor, and her baby was born. Her beautiful baby with beautiful wings. Val noticed with satisfaction that her delicate baby would probably grow up to look like her. Valencia glimpsed just once more at the child whose life she though she'd saved, before the drugs that Itex had slipped into her water activated.
When Valencia woke up, Itex had taken her baby.
She ran. She went to a deserted part of California, and settled into a small, remote town hidden by a mountain. There, she developed a sense of security, a waft of safety, and although Valencia could never fully shake off the idea of Big Brother Itex watching down on her, she figured that Itex would never bother to look for her again.
But Jeb had.
Valencia didn't know how she felt about this. On the one hand, Jeb had dismissed her feelings as if they were nothing, and then he took her baby away. On the other hand…
Valencia remembered the email she'd received. This email had explained the escape of six experiments each with wings. It had included descriptions, warnings and pictures. Valencia's eyes had looked over the email with burning curiosity—had Itex continued to Project? Had they succeeded? Valencia's gaze darted across the page, taking in each line quickly, but then she stopped abruptly when her eyes snagged a picture of one of the bird kids, and she'd felt a tugging sensation at the bottom of her stomach.
Why did she look so similar to Ella? Why did she have Val's eyes and the shape of her face? Could it be? Could that actually be her baby that she had lost so long ago?
It was. When Valencia found out that her baby had been set free, she could think of only one person at the Lab who would do it. Jeb Batchelder. Of course it never officially said he was the culprit, but it had been his project and she was his daughter.
Maybe she could forgive him. They had both made some of the very same mistakes. Valencia instantly felt sorry for being so rough on Jeb. She knew what kind of position he was in. She knew how it felt to have Itex rip from you your only child.
Valencia stopped tossing and turning, changing position in search of one that didn't leave her so uncomfortable. Allowing a peek into her past had actually lifted some weight from the heavy load anchoring her shoulders, and staring into the couch cushion, Val felt considerably safer. She even entertained the thought that maybe Itex wouldn't come after them. Maybe they'd just let things alone. (That inane thought alone serves witness enough to how tired Valencia was). Thinking about her past had enacted exhaustion; finally her tumultuous mind could rest, and so could she.
Valencia didn't even bother going upstairs. She grabbed a jacket on the floor as a makeshift pillow, closed her already heavy eyelids, fell asleep...
... and woke to the sound of a helicopter in the night.
Instantly her eyes popped open and her heart thundered. She tried to make her heart stop beating so loudly. Surely they'd hear, and if they weren't already coming for this house, the resounding thuds exuding from her chest would lead them here. But wait, it could be anyone, Valencia thought to herself. It didn't necessarily have to be them.
So why was the helicopter's sound coming closer? And why did she hear yelling that sounded strangely like the Director's voice?
Valencia jumped off of the couch and bounded up the stairs. Muttering all prayers she remembered from Children's Sunday School, she raced to her daughter's bedroom. Ella was stirring slightly. She hadn't fully awakened from the helicopter's roar, but it was only a matter of time, Valencia reasoned, as the chopper's noises were steadily getting louder.
No, Valencia thought, don't wake up. If they know you're here, they might punish you too. They might come after another one of my babies.
But Ella's eyes rebelled, and slowly opened. When she realized that the helicopter was not just a part of her dream, she rubbed her eyes, and opened them all the way. Slowly she sat up. Noticing her mom standing in the doorway, she asked, "Is that a helicopter? Are we going to be on the news?"
Valencia winced at her little girl's excitement and shook her head. After shutting the door and locking it, she sprinted to her daughter's bedside. Valencia wrapped both her and Ella securely into a blanket and gripped Ella tightly.
"W-what's going on?" Ella stammered, suddenly realizing that something was Very Wrong here.
Valencia stroked her daughter's hair and tried to offer words of encouragement, but at the same time get across the urgency of this situation. "It's okay Ells," Valencia whispered, "But please, don't say a word. Not until I say you can, okay?"
Ella nodded. Valencia could see by her daughter's many swallows that Ella was fighting back tears. But Ella was a fighter and she wouldn't cry.
The helicopter's sound was getting closer and closer to their house until it landed with a thud in their yard. Valencia continued to stroke Ella's hair, as a calming exercise for herself. She could hear the door being thrown open, the loud BANG it made when it crashed against the walls. High heels marched through the hallways and up the stairs. Valencia could feel Ella's heart rate increase with every step those heels took. Or was that her own? Or were her daughter's heart rate and Valencia's meshing together because they were both scared out of their wits?
There was no answer to this question, or at least Valencia didn't have one. She was too busy trying to make out what the voices were saying outside her door.
"Take them both alive," ordered a female voice. To say it was feminine or girly would be a blatant lie. The voice had the feel that everything it said was a command, and you'd better obey, Or Else.
Valencia prayed that she was talking about Jeb and Ari, and then felt guilty for praying such a thing. But no matter how much guilt it packed on, it was true. She was thinking of Ella's safety before theirs. She did at least hope that Jeb had heard the chopper and had made a run for it.
No such luck. Val heard his voice next. "Stay away from my son!" She was surprised that his voice could have as much command in it as the Director's, especially when he was the victim.
"Now Jeb, if you really valued your son's life, you wouldn't have stolen six of our most important possessions." The Director chuckled her sick, cruel laugh.
"They weren't yours to 'possess'; they were just children. Same as my son, and I won't let you have him."
Jeb sounded forceful. He sounded as though he would win this fight. But a low rough sound brought Valencia back to reality, and she knew that he wasn't going to win. A growl escaped from somewhere in her house. The Director had brought back up. Erasers.
"Silly Jeb. It's not a matter of you 'letting' us. You were in the wrong. You stole from us. So surely, it's all fair if we justify your crime with our punishment?"
"'FAIR?' " Jeb cried. "What is fair about anything you do? What is fair about slaughtering children? What you're doing isn't 'fair', it's a bunch of bull—"
An Eraser's threatening growl muted Jeb and subdued his cries, but ignited Ella.
"It's the wolf-men!" Ella shrieked. "They're coming to get me! They're—"
Valencia clamped a hand over her daughter's mouth. She prayed that no one heard Ella's screams. What if they found them? They'd be dead, torn to shreds, just as she suspected Jeb was.
Only, Jeb wasn't dead. Valencia hadn't been expecting his voice to ring out, but it came, alerting all in the battlefield that he was still alive and kicking.
"NO! GIVE ME BACK MY SON! GIVE ME BACK MY SON, RIGHT NOW!"
Val's heart leaped for Jeb. Was this fair? No. As much as Valencia would've liked to run out there and yell right along with him, lecturing the Director about Itex's cruel and twisted logic, she knew it was safer for her and Ella if they would just stay under Ella's blanket and sit this one out.
It was hard. Ari began crying in the middle of it. A grown man's lament and a three year old's sobs enticed Valencia to begin weeping herself. She felt tears run down Ella's cheeks and onto her hand but she didn't dare lift her hand from Ella's mouth. She had to bite fiercely onto her own lip to keep from crying out. Somehow, she managed to stay under the blanket until it was all over and the Director retreated.
The chopper left with two extra passengers in tow. Nobody bothered to check any other room in the house. They'd gotten what they came for; she and Ella were safe.
No, strike that. Would they ever REALLY be safe, Valencia and her daughter? Probably not, but Val would take all the extra precautions to do so.
Val lifted the blanket from her and her daughter. Both bore sweat from the intensity of the past half-hour. Ella still cried, mostly from confusion. She didn't know what was going on.
"Mommy," Ella wept, "what just happened?"
Valencia knelt down and wrapped her daughter into her arms. She never would have let go if she could've helped it. But she couldn't and she knew that. No one could help anything with Itex pulling the strings. Instead of answering Ella's question, Valencia replied with one of her own. "Ella, how do you feel about moving to Arizona?"
A/N: The night that Ari was taken because I can't believe that Jeb would willingly give Ari up. Jeb is twisted, sure, but not that twisted. Ari is actually my favorite character. I love his POVs in School's Out Forever. My favorite part of the book is when he's at Disney World and the little boy asks for his autograph because he thinks Wolverine is so cool. Oh jeez, I always want to cry. Because Ari finally feels important to someone. So I can't believe that his dad would do something so harmful to him.