Chain Reaction
Chapter seventeen – burning innocence
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
(Dr Alynyn Schinkoff)
Dr Alynyn Schinkoff walked down the empty hall, on her way to dinner. The X-6's were out in the field on a training exercise, the X-5's training in the classrooms, and the next group of X-7's weren't due for another two months. Therefore, Alynyn had nothing to do. Walking past the sparring room, Alynyn saw that the X-5's were in there, practicing. Stopping in front of the one-way mirror, Alynyn watched as one of the larger males tripped up a smaller female, then knelt on her back, arms twisted behind her, pinning her down.
She watched as the male waited for the count to finish, and then some, before giving the girls arms a last pull, and then let her go. Standing, she could just see a look of satisfaction on his face, before he hid it.
Feeling a presence walk up next to her, she turned to see who it was. It was Lydecker.
"Aly. Nice to see you. How are the X-7's progressing?"
"Fine Deck. The next group won't be ready for about two months, but the group we have at the minute is proceeding very nicely."
"I see. And the X-6's?"
"Good. None injured or sick, all fit and healthy and doing a training exercise at the minute."
"Ah, very good."
"Deck?"
"Yes Aly?"
"These kids, they're the X-5's aren't they? They look too young to be the X-4's."
"Yes, these are my X-5's. The best X-series we have created so far. What do you think of them?"
"I don't really know. I've only seen one fight, and that was just the end of it, with that male over there defeating a younger female."
"Ah, 598. I don't know about him. A bit too eager to do what he has been ordered, even if it means sacrificing the rest of the unit, and himself. He likes being Commanding Officer too much; the power of it has gotten to him. He seems to think that he can get away with anything, which may have been the case at the other facility, but not here. And he likes to inflict pain too much, especially on his own unit for some reason."
"Oh. I see. What will you do about him?"
"Me? Nothing. They have to learn to look after themselves. I try not to involve myself in their lives too much."
"Oh. You say they are the best?"
"Yes."
"They look good. Just the way they fight is amazing, much better than the X-6's. Who's the best of the unit?"
"The youngest, 452, is the best, but 494 is getting nearly as good as her."
"How much better than the others are they?"
"That depends. The female over there, 210, is almost as good as 452, as is the darkish skinned boy over there, 337. Some of the others, like 122 and 911, aren't anywhere near as good."
"How is it that the youngest is the best?"
"452 has always been the best, it's in her DNA to do the best she can."
"Oh, I see."
"Would you like to see just how good she is?"
"Well...yes, I would."
"Then pick a partner for her to fight, any one of them."
"What about...493 was it?"
"494. That should be interesting."
Lydecker walked into the room, and called Max and Alec forward.
"452, 494. You will fight each other."
Once said, Lydecker walked to the door, but stayed on the inside. He let the TAC leader give the signal, and watched as Max and Alec fought.
Outside, in front of the mirror, Alynyn watched as they fought for more than 10 minutes, Alec nearly being a match for Max. But just when she thought that Alec had the upper hand, Max managed to get Alec in a headlock, then flipped him and herself over backward, so that he was lying on the ground beneath her. She quickly grabbed his arms, and twisted them behind him, and knelt on his back, holding him down, even though he struggled. As soon as the TAC leader finished the count though, Max let go and walked back into line, with Alec right behind her. Satisfied with their performance, Lydecker gave Max a nod, before walking out.
"What did you think of that Aly?"
"They are amazing. I can't believe how fast and strong they are. I thought for a moment that 494 was about to win, but in a split second 452 had him pinned down. They are just so good."
"I thought you would think that. Now, I have to go and see the X-7's, will you come as well, or will you stay and watch the X-5s?"
"I think I'll stay. I'd like to see what some of the others can do."
"Alright then."
Alynyn waited until Lydecker had walked away before running in the opposite direction. When she reached her office, she sat down in her chair and cried.
Have these kids ever been loved? Do they know what love is? Do they know that children their age are out learning Maths and English and Religion, not Tactics and Stealth and what ever else they teach these kids? And do they know that while they are fighting each other, outside kids are playing games, and ice-skating and having fun? Do they realize that they aren't normal children? That they aren't innocent like other kids their age? Do they even know what innocence is? Because they don't have any. None of them are innocent anymore; it's like their innocence has been burnt away, removed from them somehow.
And even if they do know this, what can they do about it? Ever since those 11 escaped last year, security has been tighter, and they have been trying to reprogram them. And it might look like it has worked, but two nights ago; I saw something in Max and Jondy's eyes. They won't be reprogrammed. They know that what they say on those slides isn't true, they know what Deck and the TAC leaders can do to them. They know that they are a family, and that as a family they must stay true to everyone else, even those who were lucky enough to escape.
Max and Jondy will not change for the good of Manticore; they will never be what Manticore wants them to be. It will be hard on them, but they will manage. They will survive, and Alec will help them. He will do all he can for Max, I know that. I could see it in the way he held Max, in the way he looked at her, and tried to protect her. And because Max and Jondy are so close, he will do anything for Jondy too, because that is what Max would want him to do, not just look after her, but look after them both.
…
(Max)
After lights out that night, Max and Jondy silently got up and left their room. They walked down their corridor, and into the boys. Walking up to Alec's room, they looked through the window in the door. Seeing that he was lying with his eyes open, Max and Jondy waved their hands around, to try and catch his eye. Once he saw them, he got up and walked out of the room.
"What?" he whispered.
"Don't you remember? Dr Alynyn said that she would give us the list with our birthdays on it tonight, as well as some more tryptophan." Max replied.
"Oh yeah, I guess that I forgot. And unlike you two, I do need to sleep."
"You don't have to come."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't."
"I do. Who else would look after you and Jondy?"
"We don't need looking after."
"Okay, why don't you quit arguing and we can get going." Jondy butted in.
"Okay Jondy." Max and Alec replied simultaneously.
The three of them set out, and in no time were outside of Dr Alynyn's office. Seeing that the door was closed and the light on, they waited for a moment, listening. When they didn't hear anything, they slowly opened the door, and saw that Dr Alynyn was sitting at her desk, looking at the computer. When she noticed the door opening, she moved to pull out her gun, but then she saw who it was.
"Alec, Jondy, Max, come in. Is it really 2100 already?"
"Not quite. But it will be in about ten minutes." Max replied.
"Oh, okay. Come in, please, and have a seat. I'm afraid there's only two seats, so you'll have to share."
"That's okay. Me and Max'll share one." Jondy said.
Max, Jondy and Alec walked in, and sat down, Max on Jondy's lap in one chair, and Alec in the other. While they sat down, Dr Alynyn turned away from them, and wiped her eyes free of tears. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there crying, but it must have been an hour or more. Once done, she turned back around to face the three.
"Now, I have the printed list of all the birthdays, but you will have to find somewhere to hide it, because if Lydecker or one of the TAC leaders finds out that you have it, it will mean serious trouble for you and me. But I'm sure that you have somewhere for it. And I managed to get you two whole bottles of tryptophan, a bottle of soybeans, and three packets of cashews, which also contain a small amount of tryptophan. If your having a light seizure, or are feeling a bit shaky, only use the cashews or the soy beans, and save the tryptophan for worse ones."
"Thank you. We'll find somewhere to hide all this. I promise." Jondy commented.
"Good. Now, I would love for you to stay here for a while, but I have much work to do, and there seems to be a lot of guards and TAC leaders out tonight, If you have any problems though, come to me. I will always be here at this time."
"Okay, we'll go now." Alec replied, taking the things off Dr Alynyn, before the three of them left.
Once they got back to the barracks, Max and Jondy led Alec into their room. In there, Alec placed the stuff on Max's bed, and sat down.
"Why are we in here? If we get caught..." Alec started.
"We won't. And we're not staying here for long." Max cut in.
"Where are we going?" Alec asked.
"The high place," Max and Jondy replied.
"The high place?"
"It's on the roof right above our old barracks," Max explained. "We can get to it from our room though. We just have to climb out our window, up to the roof, and then walk over to the other side. From there it's easier, because it's easier to see us on this side of the roof."
"Oh. What if we get caught up there?"
"We wont."
"How do you know?"
"Because we used to go up there every couple of nights, and we never got caught. But then Ben was up their alone, the night Jack died, and he started yelling, and he got caught. None of us has been up there since, and they don't watch over it. It's on the wrong side of the building to be watched all the time, and if they ever do watch it, you can hear the helicopter a mile away and hide."
"Are you sure we should do this Max?" Alec asked.
"There's nowhere else Alec, it has to be the high place."
"Can't we at least tell the others when their birthdays are?"
"We can tell them tomorrow, I already memorized the list."
"Alright. Let's get this over with."
Alec stood up, and grabbed all the things. Max, however, had different ideas, and took the things off him, placed them on her bed, and pulled the sheet off. Folding it up, Max tied it at the top, and started to sling it over her shoulder, but Alec took it, and tied it over his shoulder.
"I could have taken it Alec."
"I don't care if you could, I'm taking it."
"Come on Max, let's go." Jondy called from out the window.
Max walked over to the window, with Alec behind her. She pulled herself out, before telling Alec what to do. Once he was out, she led the way up the drainpipe, and onto the roof. Jondy was waiting for them, and they silently walked over to the other side, and down to the high place. Once there, Max pulled the sheet off Alec's shoulder, and placed it on the ground. Moving the items off the sheet, she wrapped it around her waist, before putting the items in piles. Finished, she stood up and waited for Alec and Jondy to come over.
"Where will you put it?" Alec asked the girls.
"In the stone." Jondy replied.
"In the stone? And how are we supposed to do that?"
"It's simple," Jondy explained, "You pull out one of the stones and then put the things in the hole behind it. This is mostly hollow, when we came up here regularly we decided that we needed a place to put things, and started to hollow it out. It didn't quite get finished, but it still works, and nobody can tell the difference."
"Really?"
"Really. Now come on, we can't be up here forever you know."
Max worked out four stones, making a hole big enough for all the stuff to fit through. Alec and Jondy brought the stuff over, and the three of them carefully arranged it so that they would be able to find it easily. Finished, Max put the stones back in, and the three stood up again. Max walked over to the edge, and looked out over the thick forest. She could just make out the outline of the lake, which in winter was frozen over. Remembering what it felt like to be under that ice, Max gave a shudder.
…
(Alec)
After they had placed the stones back in, Alec stood up and stretched. His body was still sore from the fight with Max that day, and he needed a good sleep to fix it. Looking around, he saw that Max stood on the edge of the roof, looking out over the forest. He was about to turn away when he saw Max give a shudder. Walking over to her, he gently placed an arm around her shoulder. She looked up at him, and he could see a tear rolling down her face. Reaching down, he wiped it away.
"Max, what's wrong?" he asked.
"It's nothing."
"Then why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying."
"Yes you were. Now please, Max, tell me what's wrong."
"It's just..."
"Just what?"
"You see that lake over there?"
"The lake? Yeah I see it. Why?"
"I fell in that lake the night of the escape, and Jondy tried to help me out. But we didn't get far before they caught us. That was the last night I saw Zack and Syl and Krit and Ben and all the others. I miss them so much."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault."
"I know. But come on Max; let's go back inside. If we get caught out here, who knows what will happen."
"Alright."
Max and Alec turned around, and saw that Jondy was sitting on the top of the roof, waiting for them.
"Come on you two, hurry up, we haven't got all night." Jondy called out to them.
"We're coming." Max replied.
Max, Jondy and Alec walked back to other side of the roof, went down the drainpipe and entered Max and Jondy's room through the window. Max and Jondy sat down on their beds, as Alec was about to head out the door. Before he got there however, he thought of something and turned back.
"Max. Jondy. You both have twins, Sam and Toni. Do I have a twin?"
"His name's Ben." Max answered. "He escaped with the others in '09. His designation was 493."
"Tell me about him?"
"Back before the escape, he always wanted answers for everything. You know?" Max started, "Why we are here, what was outside? So he would make up these fantastic stories to explain things. Somehow it made us feel...loved. Like we weren't all alone."
"He used to make shadow animals, with his hands," Jondy interrupted, "If you ever felt sad, or hurt or scared, you'd go to him or Tinga. He would tell you stories all night long, just to keep the nightmares away. He was the one who found out about the Blue Lady, and discovered the High Place, where we used the stone as an altar to her."
"The Blue Lady?" Alec asked.
"Jack got the shakes one night, and a janitor came in. When he saw Jack shaking, he placed a card in Jack's hands, and he stopped shaking. He told us to pray to her. That she would watch over us. Ben believed in her the most, but we all gave her our teeth when they came out." Jondy answered.
"Is she real?"
"We don't know. Ben believed that she was, but after Jack got taken away, we didn't believe as much. If she was watching over us, then why did they take Jack? We did Eva have to die? Why couldn't all of us get out? There are just so many questions, ones that can't be answered. We don't know if she's real, but we still believe, just a little part in each of us still believes that the Blue Lady watches over us sometimes." Max replied.
"I guess that all of us, at some point, have prayed to the Blue Lady, and sometimes, just sometimes, she listens to us. And answers us." Jondy added.
"What do you pray for?"
"Just little things. Things like for her to watch over us during a mission, or to heal a broken leg quicker. Just stuff like that."
"Speaking of broken legs," Max interrupted, "Do either of you know what happened to Isis and Lea the night before our mission? I mean Lea has a broken bone, and Isis had concussion. That doesn't just happen overnight for no reason."
"Well, I heard the Colonel talking to one of the TAC leaders, and he said that Isis and Lea had held a mock-fight, but Isis accidentally broke Lea's arm, and as Lea fell, she caught Isis's leg and so Isis fell as well. Isis then hit her head on the bed, and got knocked out." Alec said.
"Wow." Max stated.
"Yeah," Jondy added. "I never thought that those two would have a mock fight. I don't think I've ever seen them fight properly, it's like they're just putting on a show."
"Isn't that what we're doing though?" Alec asked. "I mean the fight between me and Max today, that was just for show. The Colonel was talking to someone outside the room, I couldn't tell who, and that person wanted to see how good we were. That's the only reason they made me and Max fight each other. They wouldn't do it just because, or we'd seriously hurt each other each time. I still hurt from that fight."
"I'm sorry Alec, I didn't mean to hurt you." Max apologized.
"It's alright Max. You only did it because you had to. By the way, what is it with you and headlocks? Every time we fight you get me in a headlock."
"I don't know. It's just something I've always done."
"Anyway, I've got to go back to my room. If Nick wakes up and finds me gone, who knows what he might do? I don't think he'd go to the Colonel or 598, but he's surprised me before."
"Okay then Alec. Goodnight." Max replied.
Alec walked out of Max and Jondy's room, and walked back to the room that he shared with Nick. He opened the door and silently slipped in. It was only when he got into his bed that he realised that Nick was awake and staring at him.
"Where have you been? You disappeared just after lights out, you know we aren't allowed out of our rooms at night."
"Did you tell anyone?"
"No. But if you don't tell me where you were, I might. Please Alec?"
"Alright. You know how Max has been having those seizures?"
"You mean when she shakes really bad?"
"Yeah that. Well two nights ago, after that last incident, some of us went searching for some answers. Jondy, Max and I found a doctor, Dr Alynyn Schinkoff, and she gave us some answers. She said that we all have a chemical imbalance in our brains, and that Max's is worse than ours. She gave us some stuff that can fix it. She told us that if we came back in two night's time, tonight, she would give us some more, and she could tell us when our birthdays were. She gave us a printed list."
"What's a birthday?"
"It's a day each year that you celebrate the day you were born. Like every year, on April 13, it's my birthday. You celebrate with your family and friends, and you get presents and parties and cakes. Well, on the outside you do."
"When's mine?"
"Yours is June 9. You were born in 1999, and you're 11 years old. I was also born in 1999."
"Oh. What else did you do? Surely you weren't out for that long just at the doctors?"
"No. We had to go hide the stuff. It's in a place on the roof, that only the Alpha team know about."
"Okay then. I'm going to sleep, because unlike some people, I need sleep."
"Hey! I need sleep too, especially after Max pounded me today."
"Poor you, Alec, poor you. I hope that I never have to fight her. She's too good. You're getting close to being as good as her though. I don't think you'll ever be as good, but you'll be close."
"Thanks for the reassurance Nick."
"You're welcome."