Experiment Number One

“Their ETA is 7 minutes.”

We stood in front of the exit at the end of the Dhasl hall, waiting for our ticket out of the compound to arrive. Florescent lights spewed hot beams above that framed the door, Lieutenant Wallace said that they were emergency lights to prevent the Dhasl from escaping into the outside world. Regardless, the power throughout the compound came back on a few minutes into waiting for our chariot. I took a moment to describe all of what happened to Lieutenant Wallace from Doctor Taylor and Ren Clash relaying the news about him being infected to the creation of Serum M and ending with George ordering to kill us. He never responded to my words. I sat there silently and fidgeting with my hands.

I could see something justifiably off with Lieutenant Wallace as we stood there. Although he was staring at a phone-like device in his hand that updated him on his personnel’s location using a green hued map, his eyes kept drifting over to the blood coating his fingers. I knew that he was disgusted with himself, maybe even terrified. In truth, I was with myself, too. The smell of cooked human flesh wouldn’t leave my nostrils, and I wanted to throw up at the sight of a human body swelling with electricity. But to be an Infected who actually killed and then ate somebody, I couldn’t comprehend the feeling. I honestly don’t think I could live with myself.

I reached out to Lieutenant Wallace and covered the blood on his hand. He looked over at me, and I said, “You know it’s not your fault.” His mouth was concealed by a gas mask, despite the threat of the Dhasl being temporally tarnished as soon as the lights cut on. Beneath the hunk of plastic he stole from one of the dead guards, I knew he was frowning.

“All of this is my fault. If I had worked faster and been more tactical, none of what happened would’ve happened. I wouldn’t have–” he choked on his words.

I pressed my lips together. “Well, if you want to play that blame game, this is all my fault. Right? I’m the one who sparked this whole mess. And even after that, I’m the one who didn’t listen to you. So, if you want to blame someone, blame me. Not yourself.”

He took his device into his other hand and gripped mine more properly. “None of this,” he said, looking into my eyes. “None of this is your fault. You were just doing your best to survive.”

I didn’t respond, knowing that it wasn’t an argument I couldn’t win. Everyone had their part to play in EXNO.1. You couldn’t just throw all of the blame on one person entirely. The reaction to the situation and what was planned to do in response is what separated the good guys from the bad in my mind.

The perception of vice and virtues is relevant. Doctor Taylor and Ren Clash bringing mutants to the world would’ve been seen as a need to some but also a devastation to others. On one side, they could be deemed heroes and the other would call them the villains. The same could be said about me and Lieutenant Wallace.

“How did they capture you, anyway?”

Lieutenant Wallace’s body jolted slightly. “I, uh… was coming back from out-of-office work and they happened to capture me right at these doors.” His voice lacked substance. His words slurred into each other as his head bobbed slightly. “It took me by surprise. No one wanted to face the reality of the Dhasl, so they never stepped foot in the hallway. That’s why it was always my point of entry.”

His device buzzed, and when he lifted it, the message said our ride was two minutes away. I let out a heavy breath. Too many thoughts ran through me, but one was triumphing over them all. The realization that I was finally going home.

Lieutenant Wallace gripped my hand, “Let’s get you out of here.” I nodded with a smile, and the two of us pushed out the door into the wet desert. A cool breeze blew over us, and I embraced the fresh air. Raindrops fell from the starlit sky onto my skin, the first time I’ve felt water in months. It had been a long time since I’d seen the world. It was amazing.

Lieutenant Wallace and I walked onto the damped, fractured sand. I could hear the sound of a helicopter in the distance. It was almost there; I was almost home.

We crossed the moat using the crumbling stone bridge and then took greedy strides across a flat plain of Earth. We only made it less than halfway before the flood lights cut on.

“Robert Wallace and Emerye Mendoza.” We stopped in our tracks.

“Surrender now or we will have no choice but to open fire.”

We turned around to be met with a wall of guards with their guns raised and ready to shoot us at the order. In the middle stood George, Ren Clash, and Doctor Taylor. They thought they finally had us.

The sound of the helicopter was over my head now, but when I looked up, it was nowhere to be seen. “Cloaking tech,” Lieutenant Wallace said. I nodded, although I didn’t understand one bit.

“What are we going to do?” I whispered as if they could hear me across the dried-up field.

“Do you think you could put a force field around us?”

“I don’t know. Back there was the first time I’ve done it and I don’t even know how it happened. If they shoot at us, that’s a lot of bullets. My field was on the verge of shattering with just one gun.” The helicopter touched down somewhere behind us.

“Come on now, don’t make us kill you,” George announced.

I didn’t have the confidence that we would survive. If we ran, we’d die by a spray of bullets. If we turned ourselves in, I know they already had the plan to kill us anyway. The question was, what was the better way to go?

“I am going to cause a distraction and you are going to make a break for it.”

“What? No–”

“Listen Emerye. You can’t let them get you. Okay? If they capture you, they will get all that they need for the serum. Dead or alive.”

Tears stung my eyes. “I– I can just use my powers. I’ll blast them back and we can run together.”

“They will release the bullets before your power will even touch them.”

“They will shoot both of us if I try to run. There’s no chance.”

“Yes, there is,” Lieutenant Wallace breathed. He held up his device. A new screen had appeared than the map detailing the helicopters location. The new one had a thirty second timer. “You see this? This is a detonator. I planted bombs out here just for this moment. We’re going to walk over there and act like we’re surrendering. Once in range, I’m going to set it off. I need you to stay two steps behind me, alright? When I say to run, you run.”

“That’s stupid. I can just protect both of us from the bombs with my force field.”

“You said it yourself, It won’t be strong enough. You’re the only one that truly knows your power, Emerye. All the test, training, and experiments amount to nothing when it comes to you knowing yourself. You can’t sacrifice your extraordinary life because of me.” He stared at me with wavering eyes, and I knew that was the only way to survive. “You have to go home.”

I was so ready to leave Lieutenant Wallace behind when I knew there was no chance of saving him when he was infected, so what was making it so hard the second time? I was so close to returning to a normal life but at the cost of Lieutenant Wallace’s sacrifice. The death of someone I cared for. I didn’t want anymore death.

Everything moved in slow motion. Lieutenant Wallace pulled me forward, and I sobbed. He let go of my hand and tread a few steps ahead. I watched as we approached the line of guards. Lieutenant Wallace held his hand behind his back. His thumb tapped on the screen of his device. The timer started to count down. He let out a low “Run.”

I stopped in my tracks. I just couldn’t bring myself to move. The timer got to ten seconds. Lieutenant Wallace turned around and screamed, “Emerye, run!” and pushed me towards the helicopter. I turned towards it, starting as a jog and then a full sprint. The bombs blew their lids one by one, sending me flying forward.

I looked back at the explosion with blurry vision and ringing in my ears. I searched for Lieutenant Wallace but couldn’t see his body through the fire and smoke. I knew he was gone. Forever.

Shots rang out, poking their way through the thick explosion. I couldn’t believe they were people still alive in there. I called to my force field and it wove around me in a warm embrace. The bullets sprayed past me, slowly eating away at my protection.

The land in front of me was an open space; I didn’t know where the helicopter was. I removed one of my hands from the force field, weakening the power, and started to blast toward the open air. My bolts bounced off something near me. I leaped towards it, leaving my force field behind and trying to conceal myself in the safety of the aircraft. When I finally found the door, unlatched it, and climbed inside, a bullet hit me on my left shoulder. I fell to the floor of the helicopter with a blood curdling scream.

Bullets pinged against the craft’s exterior, causing me to yell, “Go!” at the pilot. He lifted the helicopter into the air, and the higher we got, the sound of the bullets began to fade until there was just the sound of the blades propelling.

I laid there on the ground of the helicopter, clutching my wounded arm.

I escaped the compound.

I was finally free.