I don't own MR
3rd Person
To be sorrowful was to be broken, and to be broken was to give up. And Jeb, of all people, had given up. The remorse he had held at bay for so many years began to bubble up inside of him, to force its way into his mind, to make him think about what he done.
He had killed his own daughter, and created a monster out of her remains. He had tortured his own son into insanity, and thrown him out into the world to be eaten alive. He had heartlessly murdered hundreds, maybe even thousands, because he was trying to do something good.
That's all he wanted to do, was something good. He wanted to create the next generation, the best generation, but how could he do that, when he was killing them off?
Jeb blew out a shaky breath, staring at the computer screen in front of him that had recorded Ari's nightmare he had to face in the illusion test. Jeb had expected to see himself in it, and yet, when he did, a wave of regret like no other passed through him. A crashing wave that made him realize he was the monster in the situation, not Max. Not Ari. Not Fang. Just him.
It was his fault that Max was about to die again. It was his fault Ari had anxiety attacks. It was his fault Fang had ever met Max and was dragged into her unfortunate life. Everything was a big mess Jeb had created, and now it was time to clean it up.
The man sitting at his desk thought about deleting the file that held Ari's vision from the Illusion test, but then decided against it. He needed a reminder of why he was about to do such a crazy thing; and what better reminder than the very piece of information that had sparked the idea in the first place?
Jeb stood to his full height, brushing down his white lab coat, thinking twice about it, and pulling it off. That left him in dark pants and a button down shirt. Then, without so much as a hint to what he was about do, he left his office and headed towards the labs, where every file, every piece of information, all the progress and potential success the school had gathered over the years was resting peacefully, for now.
Ari carried Max. She had snapped at him for helping her when he was still trapped in such a fragile state from looking into his own mind, but he had snapped back. True he was shaky and lost in his clumsiness, but he needed to hold onto something, and Max was the perfect person to hold onto. His sister was his anchor, and right now, as she coughed up blood and he was sure she would die before they even made it out of the school, he had never felt happier to have her with him.
"Stop grinning like that, it's scary," Max grumbled weakly as her energy pulsed like her heart beat, rapidly then almost nothing at all. Beside herself however, she grinned back, glad her brother wasn't stuck in the same state as Fang, who Iggy was holding onto at the moment.
Her boyfriend had stumbled into a robot, running mechanically, and only because Iggy had pulled on him until he did so. She had no idea what he thought he was running from, but it had to be something or else he wouldn't have moved at all. It honestly scared her to think that Fang would never come out of his trance, but she kept reminding herself that it was only temporary. He hadn't been stuck in the illusion for that long. At least, Max hoped not.
She watched Fang over Ari's shoulder, taking note of how his sprint wasn't quite as fast as normal, and how his sightless eyes sparked with pure terror every now and then. Whatever he thought he was running from, Max knew it wasn't something he could beat. If it ever caught up to him Fang would die in the illusion he was stuck in, and maybe in real life too.
Sighing to herself, Max was just about to turn back to Ari and ask him a question when she saw something that sent a shiver of complete and utter fear through her.
Ever so slowly, Fang reached his hand up to his own face, and in one swift movement, dug his nails deep into his cheek and slashed back, leaving a thick gash.
Electricity pulsed around the older man as he hastily slammed his quick fingers down on every letter he could muster into his mind. There were too many codes and only a short period of time. What was the password for that file? How many did he have left?
The questions began to overflow his mind and soon all Jeb could do was type in passwords, click on the file, and delete it. One by one until he felt like he was making a dent in the information, in all the progress. He had lost track of time, and was unaware of how long the alarms had been ringing, or how many files he deleted. All he knew was that when he went out, he could say he went out swinging. He was truly trying to make a difference, and not just the bad kind he had subconsciously been agreeing to all these years. No. He would die fighting the fight Max had to everyday, the fight Ari had to everyday. He would go out in hopes that his children would think of him differently. That they wouldn't be afraid of him; that they wouldn't hate him.
There were thirty files left, and approximately seventeen seconds until the doors busted down. As long as it was erasers who were sent to dispose of him and not actual scientists he would have plenty of time to finish the job.
Although they were supposed to be better than Lupo's lupine blood, they were still as dumb as a newborn learning how to walk. They fell over too many times, as Jeb had pointed out and nobody had cared to correct, and at the moment, as an eraser kicked down the door, he was glad nobody had cared.
"Boss?" One growled out in confusion as Jeb continued to click away. It had become a rhythmic, mechanical tone.
'Hello Jason, how are you?" Jeb spoke casually, although his mind ticked as he risked a glance behind him. Twelve erasers, a whole pack of them. Their leader, Jason, was an experiment Jeb had created. He was bred from only the purest of bloodlines, and he was loyal to only two scientists at the School. Jeb was one of them thankfully, but the director over the whole facility was the other.
"Um, Boss? What are you doing?" The young eraser asked, a puzzled look falling over his features as he watched Jeb delete file after file. He couldn't say he had a problem with it considering he hated the School with a passion, but still it was out of place to watch the person who had written up half of the files get rid of them as fast as he could.
"You didn't answer my question," Jeb deflected, as he deleted yet another file. Seven more to go. Ten seconds until Ralphie- another eraser- figured everything out, and twelve seconds before Jason would kill him. Jeb would be dead by then. He knew it. If only he could delete all seven files, however there wasn't enough time life. He could already hear a gun being cocked; a bullet sliding into a barrel.
And so Jeb did the only thing he could think of under such a vast amount of pressure with only four seconds to go. He typed in a secret code that could not be revoked, and right after he did so he felt the bullet.
It slid through his skull, shattering bone and killing him instantly. Jason killed Ralphie two seconds later, but even as he did so he realized why the other eraser had shot the gun.
The three words flashing across the screen were explanation enough for wanting to kill Jeb.
Self Destruct Activated
Iggy was sprinting for his life when the red lights began to flash, tinting everything in a bloody haze. He glanced at Max, who was staring at Fang in horror, and then at Lupo, who was staring straight ahead, not paying attention to anything but their main goal; to escape.
"What the hell do those lights mean?" Iggy asked incredulously, and for a long time nobody could answer. He wasn't sure if it was because they didn't know, or because they didn't want to know.
Finally, Ari called over his shoulder; "It means we have to get out of here. Now." And Iggy noticed how Max's body shook a little as Ari sped up. Suddenly, he had grown a new hysteria to his step, a new assurance, a new strategy. Ari knew something Iggy didn't, and Iggy did not like that one bit.
"What's going on?" He tried again, tugging Fang to move a little faster. As if he knew something was wrong, Fang sped up out of Iggy's reach, and Iggy himself had to push himself a little faster to catch up and grab ahold of Fang's shirt once more. He had to keep a hold on him until he was back in a stable condition, which he obviously wasn't at the moment.
"Just hurry up!" Ari snarled, and although Iggy felt a vague pull from his pride to argue, he knew it was not the time to interrogate anybody. And so he ran as fast as he could, and Fang stayed up with him, though he was never running for the same reason.
As Iggy sprinted on towards wherever Ari was leading them, he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread that soon overtook him until all he could focus on were the white walls that were plastered to his vision.
White wall after white wall after white wall. It all blurred together until Iggy felt like he couldn't see at all. However, that numb feeling that washed over his eyes as he glared at the pure color was nothing compared to the blackness that engulfed him next.
Next chapter is here!
Who else has started school? Anyone in an AP class that has 75-question tests? Which ironically, I got a seventy-five on. Ha.
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