A/N: Final confrontation anyone? Has it been a year since I last updated? Kinda! Sorry about that, but life gets crazy sometimes. I've actually had this written for a few months but I've never been happy with it. I'm still not quite there, but I gotta accept it how it is at this point and move on. Thankfully this time, I have the story finished and am going to upload the rest all at once.
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My footsteps echoed as I made my way down the metal hallway. My arms were outstretched, feeling on either side of the wall for any possible turns. It was pitch black and I didn't want to end up getting lost or missing something important. My fingers ran across the smooth wall as I slowly made my way down the hallway. I was unsure of what- or who- was waiting in the darkness, and I wasn't risking running face first into anything.
Unfortunately, I still managed to slam face first into the far end of the dark hallway. Barely fazed, I reached my hands out, trying to feel around for a doorknob or something. I mumbled curses under my breath as my hands ran over the smooth surface over and over again. There was no way that this creepy, underground hallway lead to nothing.
"This can't be happening," I groaned, slamming my fist into the wall. A low hum pierced the air as the hallway began to shake slightly. I moved away from the walls in surprise, had a security system kicked in? Suddenly, the hallway lit up, a faint green light revealing the stark white walls of the hallway.
Although my head started to spin, I began to look around. The newfound light revealed a small keypad on the wall that I had missed. I took a step towards it and lurched forward, grabbing the wall for support. Pushing the dizziness to the back of my mind, I inspected the keypad. It wasn't anything special, a metal plate screwed into the wall with the standard twelve buttons and a small "C" logo in the bottom right corner.
Suddenly, I heard a noise behind me and I whipped around. There was a flash of red, and then blackness.
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I woke up slowly, unwilling to open my eyes. My head was pounding and I felt groggy. Is this what normal people felt like all the time? Slowly, I tried to sit up only to be whipped back into place like a rubber band. My eyes shot open and I let out a half-hearted yelp from the pain. A bright light was shining directly in my face and I was too disoriented to think straight. I tried to pull my hands to my eyes to shade them from the intrusive light only to find myself further restrained. Why did everything hurt?
"How's the head treating you?" asked a feminine voice. Unable to move my head and find who was talking, I resolved to stay silent and close my eyes again. "Silent treatment, huh? That's fair. I did kidnap you."
I tried to focus, pushing the headache to the back of my mind. I needed to figure out where I was and how I was going to get out of there.
"You must have a million questions, Kara," said the voice again. I recognized it but my brain refused to function properly. "I really am sorry about what happened to Joshua and Theodora. They were good kids, but it's all worth it now that I've found you."
"Who are you?" I said through gritted teeth. She was right. I did have a million questions on the tip of my tongue, but I didn't want her to know that she was right.
"I thought you already knew. Your friend seemed to know all about me-"
Suddenly, I was spun away from the light to face the woman. It took my eyes a moment to adjust, but when they did I recognized her.
Dr. Elizabeth Kane stood across from me, red hair framing her pretty face. There was a small table next to her covered with devices that'd I'd seen in my dreams. That I'd seen her use in my dreams. I could only see half of the room from my new vantage point and from what I could tell, Dr. Kane was absolutely insane. Papers were everywhere, there was a board filled with her notes and little red strings connecting things to each other. There was a desk filled with stacks of manilla folders stamped with a "C" logo.
"Why?" I softly whispered, my eyes scanning over the pictures of Thea and Josh on her wall. I knew I didn't have all the pieces to the puzzle. I knew was that this all had something to do with the fact that I'm not normal. I knew was that this was all my fault.
"You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that, dear," replied Kane as she moved to her table and started preparing a needle.
"Why Josh?" I asked, watching her work. The redhead sighed.
"Well, he just made the most sense. Athletic, golden boy, and adopted at just the right time for it to be him. So I got my wig and put on my best dumb, blonde, cougar routine. I knew it wasn't him after the first night he was here, but there was no point in letting a live body go to waste. It wasn't like I could let him back out into the world after kidnapping him. So I got a few results for some of my side projects."
I stayed silent, still trying to process that she had tortured him even after she knew he wasn't special. Kane continued to speak. "Then you asked me about Josh's death and I thought you were on my trail. I overheard Theodora mention in class that she never knew her biological parents. When I looked into her background it just fit so well. Then I happened to drive past while she was jogging and it just seemed so perfect. It was too bad, I really thought she might've been the one."
"Why did you cut off her leg?"
"I left Josh's body a little too scientifically tampered with. I needed a new twist to throw the police for a loop. Now, when you came to me and practically admitted that you thought the killer was looking for you I was overjoyed. I was on my way here to do some more research when I found you and your friends snooping around. I knew I had to send a message and Hadley was stopped at that tree trying to untie her scarf. It's a miracle what a log to the head can do on such short notice."
"Is Hadley-"
"Alive? Yes. I can't really say for how long though. I tried to question her about you to see how much she knew. She is a very loyal friend, it took until I broke out the electric shocks for her to tell me about your dreams of my activities. That was when I knew that you were the one. I'd been broadcasting my experiments live to my superiors and your sleeping state must've been able to pick it up."
"You're superiors?" I asked, confused. It made more sense as I looked around the space. You didn't need such extensive note work when you're just a deranged woman. Why else would she quit her job to move here unless she was getting paid to do it?
"Why of course, Kara. You think I hurt children for fun?" She focused back on the needle she started before I caught her in her monologues. "Honestly, Kara, I thought you were smarter than that. We've been looking for you ever since you crashed on this planet. It only took us so long because your alien comrade kept interrupting our plans."
There it was. The one word I had been avoiding for her whole life. Alien. I always knew I wasn't human. When I woke up in the hospital at six years old speaking a language no one knew and not understanding a thing anyone said I knew. When I developed powers I knew. When I was tucked in my parents every night and dream of a different life with parents who actually looked like me I knew. When I caught myself staring longingly at the stars I knew. I never wanted to admit it. Now, with Dr. Kane standing over me, a glowing green needle in hand I knew that I was going to die before I could ever learn anything more about myself.
"It really is a shame that I have to kill your friend after I'm done with you. She really was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Kane said, tapping the side of the needle. I couldn't let her hurt anyone else. Especially not Hadley. I began to struggle hard against my restraints and scream as loud as I could. Hadley was still alive somewhere and I was not going to let Kane kill her because of me. Dr. Kane tried to grab my arm and shove the needle in, but I let out a primal yell and pulled as hard as I could away from her. The metal holding down my wrist snapped. Kane's eyes went wide in shock as I started to rip myself free. She scrambled out of my sight and I broke the restraints off my ankles. I turned around to face her, a look of pure rage in my eyes.
"Don't take a step closer or your friend is going to get a bullet through her brain," called out Kane. She was standing there, holding a gun to Hadley's head. Hadley was barely awake, mascara smudged around her eyes, a gag in her mouth, wrists and ankles tied together. I softened, dropping out of my rage. "That's right, Kara, nice and easy. Now you are going to walk over to that table and try to inject yourself with that needle. If it doesn't break through your skin, you can just swallow it. Just get it down, please."
I slowly moved back to the table, trying to think of a plan. Some way Hadley and I could both get out of this room alive. I reached for the needle, lifting it up to show Kane that I picked up the right object. I wasn't sure what was inside, but I had the feeling that it was going to subdue me long enough for Kane to take me back to her superiors and if I took it there was no chance I was getting out of here with Hadley. With no options left, I dropped the needle.
The needle hit the ground. My foot reached out crushed the cartridge underneath my converse. Kane moved the gun away from Hadley's head. I flew towards her as she remained. I closed my eyes when the shot rang out, waiting for the pain. When it didn't come, I slowly reopened them.
Kane was looking at me, shocked. I reached up to my chest where I had felt the bullet hit me. There was a small hole in my shirt but the shiny piece of metal sat at my feet. I looked back up to Kane. She quickly moved the gun back to Hadley. My vision started to turn red as a look of fear overtook Kane's face. The room was burning. The gun clattered against the concrete floor.
Slowly, the world returned to its normal colors. Kane was on her knees, clutching her hand to her chest. I began to run to Hadley only to realize that I was floating a foot above the ground. I dropped to my knees in front of her and ripped the gag out before pulling at the ties on her ankles and wrists.
"Kara?" She mumbled, looking at me. There was a gash on her forehead that needed medical attention and there was too much dried blood on her face.
"Don't worry, just try to go back to sleep," I whispered before pressing a kiss to her hairline. Hadley closed her eyes and leaned forward into me. Bundling my best friend up into my arms, I headed for the door.
"You can't just leave me here," called Kane's shaky voice from the floor. I looked back at her. Her teeth were clenched, breathing through her mouth as she tried to calm herself down. "You can't."
I didn't humor her with a reply. Turning back around, I kicked the door and it burst off its hinges. Lifting off the ground and flying up the tunnel with the ladder was difficult since Hadley and I didn't exactly fit, but we squeezed back onto the surface.
The cold morning air hit me like a brick, but I pushed it from my mind. Hadley's face looked even paler under proper lighting and now that I could fully see her head wound, I regretted letting her fall back asleep. I pushed harder, barreling as fast as I could back into town. I touched down outside the hospital, people on the street staring at me with open mouths. Paying no attention to them, I rushed inside the emergency room and was immediately met by physicians.
"She has a really bad head wound and she's lost a lot of blood." A male nurse tried to take her from my arms and I threw him a firm look that said 'I'm stronger than you'. "Where can I put her down?"
A gurney was wheeled out and I laid Hadley on it. Medical personnel pushed her back through the double doors and I started to follow before I remembered that I had more problems than if Hadley was going to be alright. I needed to do something about Dr. Kane. Ignoring the stares from the other people waiting inside the lobby, I ran back outside. Starting toward the Sheriff's station, I ran as fast as my feet would take me.
"Sheriff Jackson!" I called out as I almost pushed the door down. Officer Moore quickly stood up, hand on his gun as the sheriff came out of his office.
"Kara?" he asked staring at me. "What the hell is going on?"
"There's a bunker underneath that old barn. Dr. Kane was using it. I left her down there injured but she still could've left. We have to go arrest her." Sheriff Jackson was looking at me like he hadn't heard a word I had just said.
"We aren't doing anything until you tell me what's going on, Miss Danvers. You've been missing for the last twenty-four hours." He squinted at me. "Is that your blood?"
"Dr. Kane, the new teacher at the high school. She killed Thea and Josh and just tried to kill Hadley and I. She's insane and I left her down in the bunker that was hidden under the barn to rush Hadley to the hospital."
Sheriff Jackson slowly nodded his head trying to process the words he was hearing. "Moore, go start the car and get all units headed out to the barn, I'll be there in a second." Officer Moore ran out to the patrol car and Sheriff Jackson came up and placed his hands on my shoulders. "You did good, Kara. There are some extra clothes in my office. Why don't you go get changed and make yourself a cup of coffee? I'll send your parents down here while I head out to the barn"
I nodded slowly and he let go, headed out to the car. The siren starting up sounded muffled to me, which was strange because normally everything sounded incredibly clear. I took a step towards the office and suddenly became very aware of a sharp pain in my foot. Stumbling to a chair, I lifted my foot up to see several glowing green bits of glass from the syringe stabbed into the sole of my shoe. I leaned down to take my shoe off to get the glass out but leaned forward into darkness instead
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A/N: Wow? There's chapter nine? I'm still not completely happy with how it turned out, but y'all really deserve a conclusion.