Chapter thirteen – Déjà vu
What if, in the escape of '09, Max hadn't escaped with the others? What if Jondy had tried to save her when she fell in the ice, but in the end they both got caught?
…
'10
The X-5s were marching down the corridor towards their barracks to get ready for lights out, after a day of either reward or punishment. They were halfway there, when Max started to shake. She was shaking so badly that she fell out of the line, and started convulsing on the floor. The TAC leader began moving toward her, to take her away.
Jondy started to run to her sister, to try and protect her, when 598 appeared in front of her and stopped her. Jondy struggled; the TAC leader was picking Maxie up.
"X-5 210 get back in line. Now, soldier." 598 ordered.
"No." Jondy yelled, pushing 598 out of the way. She ran to Max, and kicked the TAC leader in the head. He dropped Maxie, but Alec was there, next to Jondy, to catch her. Jondy faced the TAC leader, who had one hand against his head, and a gun in the other. Jondy kicked the gun out of his hand, and punched him once in the stomach, and then in the throat. She heard the bones crunch, and the TAC leader dropped to the floor, writhing in pain.
Jondy turned around, to see Maxie in Alec's arms, still convulsing. Blak stood next to Alec, and the rest of the X-5's stood behind him. Jondy went to her sister, and whispered to her.
"It's gonna be alright Maxie. We won't let anything happen to you."
She looked up, and saw that the 598 were standing opposite them.
"X-5 210, what do you think you are doing? You will be severely punished for attacking a TAC leader again."
"Do we have to go through this again 598? I was protecting my sister. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? You're the CO."
"210 come here. I said come here. If you don't I will report you to Colonel Lydecker for insubordination."
"I don't care what you do 598. Don't you know that they would take Maxie away?"
"It is not my place to question what the Colonel is doing. Now come here."
"No."
Alec smiled, "Don't make us go through this again 598. It's not worth it. You won't win against us. We are a family, no matter what you say, and we are going to protect each other, no matter how much you try to stop us. Go tell the Colonel on us if you really want to, it won't matter. You can't stop us from being a family, and looking out for each other. Why bother trying?"
"You know that I can report you to the Colonel for saying that, don't you 494?"
"Yes sir!" Alec replied sarcastically, "Now why don't you run along and do what you've threatened?"
598 looked from Alec, to Jondy, to Sef, and, seeing the identical looks of hatred on their faces, turned and marched away. Before he got more than ten steps though, he turned around to face them again.
"I won't forget this. Or what happened the last time. Don't think I'll forget."
With that, he turned once more and marched back off to the barracks.
Sef stood in front of the group once more, holding his hand up for silence. Only once everyone was silent, did he begin talking.
"Again, no one is to mention this activity to anyone. If you do, I will punish you. And don't think that 598 will forget this. Don't think that he will not punish us. He will make us remember, when all we want to do is forget. He will make us pay for standing up to him. I just pray to the Blue Lady that when he does, we can overcome whatever he throws at us. That no matter what he tries to do, we will not falter, we will not fall. We will not fail our family. We will not turn out like 598, concerned with nothing but blind duty to Manticore and the Colonel, thinking nothing of his family and the repercussions that might occur. It is a wish for the new year that will come soon enough, that we will become stronger no matter what anyone might throw in our way. I want all of you to return to the barracks, and stay in your own rooms until wake up call tomorrow. Do not let anybody in, no matter who it is. Do not go wandering; do not seek out adventure. You are all dismissed, except Alec, Max, Jondy, Blak, Trix, Jules and Scout."
The 23 remaining soldiers formed back into two lines again, and marched back to their barracks. Sef waited until they had gotten out of hearing range before speaking to those left.
"We need to do something about Maxie's seizures. They're getting bad, nearly as bad as Jack's were before he got taken away. We can't keep pretending that they don't exist, we need to find a way to stop them."
"But I thought that Max said there was no way to stop them." Alec interrupted.
"There is no way that we know of," Sef explained, "but that doesn't mean that there isn't a way. We need to do some recon, and we need to do it now. First, Blak and I need to dispose of the TAC leader. I think we'll just leave him in one of the nomalies cells again. Meanwhile, I want you to split up and head toward the infirmaries. Alec will you carry Max?"
Alec nodded.
"Good. Then you take Max and Jondy, and Trix, Jules and Scout go together. Head straight to the infirmaries, but when you get there, I want your group, Alec, to take the left-hand side rooms, while Trix's group takes the right-hand side rooms. If you find anything, have one member of your group signal the others, while the other two stay as guards. Use the 'danger' signal, it's the quietest and least obvious. Any questions? Good then let's begin."
Blak and Sef quickly picked up the TAC leader, and headed to the basement, while the other six headed toward the infirmaries. When the reached them, they split up and headed in opposite directions.
The first door that Max, Alec and Jondy came to was locked. Jondy pulled a piece of metal out of one of her pockets, and picked the lock. Stepping inside, they found themselves in a surgery room, bare of everything but equipment. They looked around for any cupboards, but not finding any, they left. The next two rooms were the same, empty surgery rooms, but the one after that was an office. They stepped inside, and Alec placed Max in one of the chairs, making sure she couldn't fall off.
Alec started looking through the drawers of the desk, while Jondy looked through the filing cabinets. Finding nothing in them, they had just booted up the computer when a voice stopped them.
"What are you doing in my office?"
Alec and Jondy looked up, startled, to find a tall, brunette woman standing in the doorway, pointing a gun at them. They were just about to make a break for it but realized that they wouldn't have enough time to get Max out as well. Instead, Alec stood up straight, clipping a salute at the woman.
"Ma'am, we are on a recovery mission, and were told that no one would be in this wing tonight."
"Mission? Good try soldier. You're an X-5, that's plain to see, and all the world knows that most of the X-5's disgraced themselves during their last mission. Though looking at you two, I seem to recall seeing you having a bit of relaxation time today. And as for this wing being unoccupied, there is always some one around here somewhere. Now, soldier, tell me what you are really doing in my office."
Alec was just about to reply when Max fell off the chair Alec had placed her on, shaking furiously. As soon as the woman saw her, she softened, and walked over to her. Before she could reach Max however, Alec and Jondy stood in front of her, to stop her.
"Move aside soldiers. I said move."
"No!" Jondy near screamed, "We won't let you hurt Max. You can't kill her. Me and Alec won't let you."
"So you have names do you. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. What's your name sweetie?"
"Jondy."
"Well, Jondy, I won't hurt Max. I'm just going to try and help her."
"How do we know that though ma'am?" Alec asked.
"My name is Dr. Alynyn Schinkoff. You can call me Aly."
Jondy frowned. "Aly?"
"Yes, Aly. That's the name that I use instead of Alynyn, my nickname."
"So it's kind of like us calling Max, Maxie?"
"Yes. It is. Now, will you let me try and help your Maxie?"
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know just yet. I have to try and see what's wrong first."
"You won't cut her up?"
"Cut her up? Why would I do that?"
"Because that's what they did to Jack when he got the shakes."
"Jack. You mean 417?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Is Max suffering from the same thing as Jack then?"
"Yes."
"Then I think I know how to help her. Just let me see her."
Alec and Jondy moved aside, allowing Alynyn to pass through, and began inspecting Max, whose shakes had lessened, but weren't gone completely. After a moment, she stood up, and addressed Jondy and Alec, who were standing close to her, watching what she had been doing.
"Jondy. Will you go to the room next door on your left, and on the desk you will find a book by Sara Hines. I can't remember what it's called but it's large and thick, and the cover has plants on it."
Jondy ran to do so while Alynyn and Alec stood watching over Max.
"Tell me something Alec, how long has Max had these seizures?"
"I don't know. I'm part of the Beta unit, and we only came here about a month ago, so I don't know much."
"Ok then. Do you know if she's had any recently?"
"Yes. She had one yesterday during mission, one last night after mission, and one just before now. But she said that the last one before that was the night of the escape, which I think was about seven months ago."
"Three in two days? That's bad. Would Jondy know how long she's had them for?"
"Yes. Jondy's been here all along."
"I'll ask her then."
"Ask me what?" Jondy questioned as she walked in the door, book in hand.
"How long has Max had these seizures?"
"For as long as we can remember. We've all had them at some point, but Max, Jace and Scout are the only ones who have them at the minute." She replied, handing Alynyn the book.
Alynyn stood there for a moment, flicking the pages, before settling on one, and reading it quickly. Once finished, she snapped the book shut, and handed it to Alec.
"Take this and put it back on the desk next door. Then go through the doorway at the end of this hall. There you will find a lot of bottles and things. I need you to find two of them. One will be labeled Tryptophan and the other Soya Beans. Find them and bring them back to me."
Alec ran out the door, leaving Alynyn and Jondy in silence.
"How old are you Jondy?" Alynyn asked after ten seconds of silence.
"I'm ten."
"Are all of you the same age?"
"Don't you know?"
"I don't know much about anyone except the X-6 series. I came in just before they were born."
"Oh. Well, no. We aren't all the same age. The oldest was Zack, and he'd be twelve if he were here. Me and Max are the youngest."
"What about Alec? How old is he?"
"I don't really know. I think he's the same age as Ben though, which would make him twelve as well."
"Don't you know when your birthdays are?"
"Birthdays?"
"The day you were born. Every year, on the day you were born, you get to celebrate, and you get presents, and parties and cakes. Don't you know any of this?"
"No. We aren't told anything about birthdays or presents. We only know that at the end of each year after tests we are a year older."
"Wouldn't you like to know your birthday?"
"I don't see how I could. But yes I would like to know."
"Well I think I might be able to try. We can have a look after we help Max. And here comes Alec now."
Alec handed the two bottles over to Alynyn, who knelt beside Max once more. Opening one of the bottles, she took out three tablets and tried to open Max's mouth to get them in. When she couldn't, she asked Jondy and Alec to help, finally getting all three of the tablets down Max's throat. Slowly, but quicker than before, Max's shakes lessened, until she was able to sit up, and look around.
"Where am I?" Was the first question Max asked.
"You're in one of the offices."
"Whose?"
"I am Dr. Alynyn Schinkoff. This is my office."
"Okay. I think I'll go back to sleep now." And with that, Max laid back down and went to sleep.
Sitting down, Alynyn gestured for Jondy and Alec to do the same, before explaining to them.
"Max has a chemical imbalance in her brain. I am sure that all of you have it as well. Her brain doesn't create as much serotonin as is required, and that causes the seizures. There is a substance called tryptophan that will help make more serotonin, and help control the seizures. Now, I can give you a small amount of tryptophan, but I can't keep supplying you with it, because the officials might notice just how much goes missing. However, you can find tryptophan in soya beans, which can be found in some parts of the forests. Tryptophan can also be found in other things, like milk, but that isn't as easy to find."
"So all we have to do is find these soya beans, and Maxie will be alright?" Jondy asked.
"Basically. They're not hard to find, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'd have to warn you though, that whenever you find some, stock up on it, because you never know when a seizure might come on, and if you don't have any soya beans, then Max could get caught."
"Ok. We should be going now though. It's getting late, and the guards might come."
"Yes, you should go. But first, let me find out your birthdays. It'll be my pleasure."
"Birthday?" Alec asked.
"The day you were born." Jondy replied while Alynyn sat down behind her computer and began to work. Ten minutes later, she had results.
"Ok. It says here that you, Jondy were born on the 1st of June 2000, and Max was born the next day, the 2nd of June. You, Alec, were born on the 13th of April 1998. Who else's birthdays do you want to know?"
"Could you give us a printed list?" Jondy asked.
"Sure. I can't give it to you know though, but if you come back in two nights time, at 2100, I will give it to you then, as well as some more tryptophan."
"Thank you, ma'am. We will see you then."
Alec picked up the sleeping Max, and, with Jondy leading the way, went back to the point where they had split up from the other three. Alec sent Jondy on, to find the others, while he waited with Max. Not long after, Jondy returned, Trix, Jules and Scout following closely. Nodding to them, Alec led the way back to the barracks, to Max and Jondy's room. There they found Blak and Sef waiting for them.
"What happened? Did you find anything out?" Blak asked impatiently.
Alec laid Max down on her bed, while the other group reported.
"We didn't find anything." Trix stated. "Just a bunch of surgery rooms, and a couple of offices with no information in them. But Alec, Jondy and Max did."
"What did you find?" Sef asked.
Alec turned around to face them again, and began speaking. "Well, Jondy and I were in one of the offices, but we got caught by the doctor who owns the office. She was really nice, and she helped us. She said that Max has a chemical imbalance in her brain, and it doesn't make enough serotonin. She said that most of us have the same thing, but Max just has it on a larger scale. She said that to treat it all we had to do was eat something that has tryptophan in it, and it will help make the serotonin, and control the seizures. She gave us some tryptophan tablets, and some soya beans, because soya beans contain tryptophan. So does milk, but you can't find that in the forest like you can the soya beans."
"So all we have to do is keep a stock of tryptophan and soya beans, and it will all be alright?" Trix asked.
"Yep."
"Then let's all get to bed. Some of us need some sleep." Sef put in, as he ushered everyone out the door. Before he left though, he turned and spoke to Jondy and Alec, who hadn't left yet.
"Why do I feel like you're hiding something from me?"
Alec smiled. "Because we are oh all mighty leader."
"Don't be an idiot Alec. Will you tell me?"
"I will," Jondy said, "The doctor, Alynyn, said that she could find out our birthdays for us."
"Our birthdays? But I didn't think anyone knew when they were?"
"You know what a birthday is?"
"Kind of. One of the doctors was talking about it while I was in the infirmary two week ago. It's when you celebrate the day you were born, with all your family and friends."
"And you get presents, and cakes and parties. And Dr. Alynyn can tell all of us ours. She's already told me and Alec and Max ours. In two nights time, we have to go back and get some more tryptophan off her, and she will give us a print of our birthdays."
"Ok. I guess that in a short brutal life, you gotta seize any chance you can to celebrate. Especially when you're one of us. But I have to go now, and so do you Alec. Goodnight." Sef called as he walked out the door, and back to his room.
Before Alec walked out of the door, he placed a feather light kiss on Max's forehead, and then walked over to Jondy. Before he could do anything, Jondy had wrapped her arms around him, in a tight hug. He hugged her back, listening to her heavy breathing.
"Alec," she whispered after a moment.
"Yes Jondy?"
"Were you scared tonight? I mean when Max got her seizure?"
"I was scared out of my wits. I guess that you were too."
"Yeah. I won't let anything happen to Maxie. I won't let her get hurt by anyone or anything."
"I know. And I will try to do the same thing. Now, goodnight Jondy. You should get some sleep."
"I'll try. Goodnight Alec. And thank you. For looking after Max."
"Anytime, Jondy. Anytime."