The Hunt: The Oakmont Saga, Book 2

When I woke up, I was strapped to a gurney, with an IV in my arm. There was someone sitting near me. Looking over, I saw Mrs. Trulin.

“You aren’t able to access your abilities,” she said to me, before I even tried to touch my powers. I could already tell my telepathy was cut off, though.

“Melanie, I know you think of me as one of the bad guys, but I’m not, no matter what you think. Listen, there is nothing I can do to help you, but I can try and help Aliyah, Ben and Eliana and I will. The one thing I can offer you is this. They are going to install a device in you that will control the telepathic region of your mind. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect your other abilities are not originating there. You may still have power, but that will be up to you to figure out. Good luck,” she said, got up and walked out.

I wasn’t sure why she told me that, or what it might do for me, but it was something. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make use of it at the moment, and at that point, it didn’t really make sense.

“We’ll need to eliminate the witnesses,” I heard a male voice say, not far away.

“There are witnesses scattered across the country. You can’t eliminate that many people,” a woman replied.

“Why not?” the man asked.

“Are you seriously asking me that?” the woman said, sounding like she didn’t actually expect an answer.

“If we don’t eliminate all witnesses, we’re exposed. If the public finds out about us, we’ll lose our strategic advantage,” the man told her.

“You can’t kill that many people without it becoming public, and you’ll be crucified if that happens. So will everyone associated with this program,” she tried to explain.

“Then what do you suggest?” he asked.

“For the most exposed, elimination, as you suggest, but mix that with removal. For those with lesser exposure, denial. Make them seem crazy, if they say anything. They’ll become outcasts and will pose no threat, like all of the UFO nuts. Many of them are involved in the drug trade anyway, so dealing with them won’t be much trouble,” she said.

“What about those we already have in detention?” he asked.

“Eliminate them, if that’s your choice. They pose no threat at this point,” she replied.

I knew at least six that were in detention. Those were Mom, Dad, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mike and the Stones. The ones that had the most exposure, other than them, were the Ramirez family and Mrs. Molly and Mr. Hern.

“Ah, you’re awake. Good,” the man said, obviously speaking to me.

“What’s your name?” the woman asked.

“Mel…,” I began, but was suddenly jolted with an electric shock. I knew what that was and because of it what they wanted from me. I also knew that fighting it was pointless. There were other areas to save my strength for.

“What is your name?” she again asked.

“Subject 32145,” I dutifully replied.

“Very good. I am impressed that you remember, considering how long you’ve been allowed to be unsupervised,” she said.

“We’re going to implant an inhibitor in you, to insure that we don’t have a repeat of your last escape. This will also suppress the telepathic region of your brain, unless we want it to function. I think we need that, considering how powerful your ability to implant suggestion is and the fact that our mind blocks don’t seem to work with you. There are a few new features to this device that you should be aware of. First, if anyone attempts to tamper with it, it’ll short out. You won’t like that. Second, if you go beyond the confines we set, it will deliver a shock to your brain, rendering you immobile. Once you’re safely returned to the Oakmont facility, the security perimeter of the facility will define your limits. Until then, it will be defined as within fifty yards of me. Lastly, should you actually manage to escape, we can remotely trigger a short out. So there is no misunderstanding, in the event of a short out, a charge will be sent through your brain, placing you in a vegetative state,” the man told me.

It took me a moment to realize what he had said. They thought that my other abilities were from me putting thoughts in their heads, not what really happened. They thought I was simply manipulating their memories. That might be what Mrs. Trulin had been talking about.

“This may not be the proper place to do the implant,” the woman suggested.

“I don’t want to take any chances with her. We lost her once and I do not want that to happen again. She’s already damaged anyway, likely beyond recovery. We need to get what data we can, as fast as we can. We can’t do that if she runs off again,” he replied. At least they were referring to me in human terms, this time.

“As you see fit,” she agreed.

I then heard a buzzing somewhere above me, and a moment later felt a tingly sensation on my head. Terror shot through me as I realized they were cutting my hair off, down to the scalp. They were shaving my head.

It only took a couple of minutes for them to have all of the hair on the top of my head gone. They only shaved the top, oddly, and that in a strip.

A moment later, I felt something cold touch the top of my now bare head and felt liquid running down my scalp.

Then a sharp pain shot through me as I felt them cut my scalp. They didn’t bother to use any kind of anesthesia, and they were obviously going to do some kind of surgery on me. It was then that I recalled the nightmare I’d been having, with them opening my skull without deadening it or putting me to sleep. It was real!

I barely managed not to scream at the pain, but I did hold myself together. I couldn’t stop the tears flowing from my eyes at the pain, though.

When they seemed to be finished with opening my scalp, I heard a sound that truly sent terror through me. It was the sound I’d heard in my nightmares, many times. There was no mistaking the sound of a medical drill. I couldn’t stop myself from shaking, as they put the drill against my skull. Although I oddly didn’t feel any pain from it, the terror was more than enough to make me scream.

They drilled a few holes in my skull before bringing out some kind of saw looking device. Although terror had coursed through me earlier, this time it was magnified. I couldn’t help the incredible scream that came from deep inside me.

I had no idea when they finally finished, but I woke up with a horrible headache and my throat was sore from screaming. I remembered Mrs. Molly having to be removed, when she came running in. That could’ve been a dream though. I wasn’t really sure, since I thought they had eliminated her.

“We’ve captured Subject 32145 and have implanted the inhibitor and tracking device,” John Wu told the Headmaster a short time after the operation was finished.

“I’m impressed, both with your success and your forethought,” Raughlin told him.

“Thank you, sir,” John replied.

“And what of the other subjects?” Raughlin asked.

“They were nowhere to be found. We have no trace of them, sir,” John admitted.

“That’s a shame, but not surprising. Keep after them. They’ll turn up eventually, if for no other reason than they’ll attempt to rescue her,” Raughlin said, smiling broadly, as he ended the call. They had the leader and planner of the little duo, or group. The others would eventually slip up, likely trying to make some rescue attempt.

“Sir, she offered herself up as a sacrifice. I’m not so sure they’ll come after her,” Easely suggested.

“I wouldn’t let the Headmaster know your thoughts on that,” John told him.

“No, sir, but I thought I should tell you,” he replied. “Sir, do you know what they are going to do to her?” Easely asked.

“No, and it’s none of our concern,” John replied.

“Sir, I know I might get in trouble for saying this, but what they just did wasn’t right. They shouldn’t have cut into her head like that without some kind of anesthesia. It’s not right, sir,” Easely said, and there was no doubt he was very upset over what had just happened.

“I would keep those thoughts to myself, if I were you,” John again told him. The problem was, he was thinking something very much along those same lines. He was very disturbed by what had just happened and there was no way he could deny it. Some of their emotional response could be from the fatigue they felt. They barely managed to make it to South Dakota in time, having travelled from southeast Georgia on a moment’s notice.

Regardless of any fatigue, he was also disturbed by the ease with which they spoke of eliminating witnesses, as if they didn’t matter. John was beginning to think that maybe his former boss left for a better reason than he first thought.

Something else also concerned him. She had absolutely gone against what they assumed she would do. They had no logical explanation for the direction she had been heading.

Those were thoughts for another time, though, when he was more rested and could think clearly. He had a job to do.

“Why does she always have to do everything on her own? Why can’t she trust us?” Aliyah was raving. She had been in a bad mood ever since they left Melanie at that convenience store. For some reason she couldn’t explain, she knew that Melanie had not escaped this time.

“They have her,” she finally said, voicing that feeling she had gotten a few hours earlier.

“You don’t know that,” Raphe said.

“Yes, I do, and she’s hurting. I can feel it,” she replied.

“It is only in your mind because you are worried,” he told her, but he didn’t realize that it really was in her mind, just not the way he meant it.

“Raphe, do you remember us saying how dangerous it was to be around us?” she asked, having decided to let him know exactly what he had gotten himself into.

“Yeah, but I figured that was just kid talk,” he said.

“Melanie and I are telepaths. We were created by the government to be spies, or weapons or something like that,” she told him.

Knowing there was no way he would believe her, she started speaking in his mind, deciding against reading his mind.

Raphe, don’t freak out. To talk to me, just imagine yourself talking and I’ll hear you, she said. For a moment, everyone in the van thought they were going to die, as he swerved off the road and fought for a short time to regain control.

“So you can read minds and sh...stuff?” he asked, correcting his language, after a moment’s thought about who he was talking to.

“Yeah, but we don’t, unless it’s really important,” she admitted, returning to normal speech.

“That’s freakin cool!” he exclaimed. “Oh, sh...shoot, that’s cool,” he corrected.

“It’s not as cool as you think. The government wants to control us because of it, so we’re always running from them. That’s not so cool,” she told him.

“Yeah, I guess that wouldn’t be, but why don’t you just use your awesome mental power to stop them?” he said, as if it was some kind of superhero movie.

“Because they have telepaths too, and it takes a lot of energy to do it.”

“There are always limits, which I guess is good, for something like that.”

“Yeah, I just wish they’d leave us alone and let us live our lives.”

“But you’re dangerous, so they think they have to watch you and control you,” he said. She thought about that for a moment before replying.

“We didn’t ask to be like this, though. They made us like this, so we have no rights because of what they did?”

“You or your parents didn’t volunteer to do it?”

“Most of the parents did, I think, but not ours. They were given the stuff when they were wounded and brought to the hospital.”

“That’s messed up,” he admitted. “No, they shouldn’t have any control over you, but I think I understand why they think they should. What if one of our enemies got you? That’d be really messed up.”

“That’s not our fault and they created this. Eventually, it’ll get out. Everything eventually does, doesn’t it?”

“Will your kids get it too?”

“I don’t know,” she said, although she knew they would. She had made the choice to get the serum that would make it so.

“I will still help you, but I understand why they want to control you.”

“They shouldn’t have done this.”

“You are right, but they did, so now they have to control what they created. They can’t let our enemies get it. That’d be really messed up. Then there’d be a telepath war, or something.”

“I think there’s already going to be a telepath war, but it won’t be with another country. It’ll be between telepaths in the United States.”

“Man, that is messed up. I’m in the middle of some kind of psychic war, or something.”

“You could probably still get out, if you want,” she told him.

“No way. This is too cool, and I might actually be a part of real history,” he said, excited like a young kid at the prospect of being in a movie or something.

“I’m going to try something that she’s done a lot of times. It might hurt me a lot, but I think I need to,” she said, lying back and making herself as comfortable as she could, in the back of the van.

“What are you about to do?” Gabe asked.

“I’m going to try and reach out to her, talk to her,” she said.

“You can do that, from this far away?” he asked.

“I’ve never been able to, but Mel has, and she always said I probably could too,” she replied.

She closed her eyes and relaxed as much as she could, considering she was fairly certain this was going to hurt a lot. She then let her mind drift, a single probe going back down the road, the direction they had come from.

Amazingly, she found Melanie fairly quick, the feel of her mind very familiar. She felt pain unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. The distance and effort were bringing an immense strain on her. If this was what Melanie experienced when she did this, she couldn’t imagine how she functioned, yet she did it repeatedly.

Knowing she had a job to do, she pushed through the pain and attempted to establish a connection, but it was as if there was a wall in the way. It wasn’t shields, but something was definitely blocking her.

She then felt several other minds in the area, so she entered the nearest one. What she discovered made her break the connection a lot faster than she should have, bringing yet more pain. She sat bolt upright, almost retching as she did. Although the pain of what she had just done was incredible, the emotional pain was much worse.

“What’s wrong?” Gabe asked, concern etched on his face. He was looking at her oddly, and wiped some blood from her nose and eyes.

“They have her,” she replied, but didn’t say anything else, trying to recover from the experience.

“What else?” he asked, knowing there was more.

“I can’t tell you,” she said, barely able to speak.

“Even though you’ve let me into your little group, you still don’t trust me,” he exclaimed, upset and disappointed at the apparent lack of trust.

“It’s not that, Gabe,” she said, breathing heavily for a long time before continuing. “They cut into her head and put some kind of device into her to stop her telepathy from working and also to be able to track her, if she escapes again. They didn’t deaden it before they did it and she was awake.”

“That’s messed up,” Raphe stated, repeating the phrase he had used often in the past little while.

“They’re going to kill anyone that knows too much, including our parents,” she added, after taking a few more minutes to get her breathing under control.

“Didn’t she want you to go rescue them?” Raphe asked.

“Yeah, but I’m not sure we can do it without her. She’s the strongest one of us,” Aliyah replied.

“She thought you could,” he told her. Although his eyes were focused on the road ahead, she knew there was a look of anticipation on his face, waiting for her response.

“Aliyah, she told me to help you do what you needed to do. You need to do this. No one else can,” Gabe added.

With tears seeping from her eyes, she nodded her head. “Okay.”

“Where are we going, then?” Raphe asked.

“Seattle. They’re near Seattle in a town called Everett,” Aliyah replied.

“How are we going to get into some top secret, probably heavily fortified, government building?” Gabe asked.

“They’re being kept in the county jail, there,” she informed them.

“That might make it harder to get them out,” Raphe told them.

Aliyah and Gabe both looked at him with curiosity. “There will be lots of people coming and going there, and there will also be lots of guards, not to mention the other inmates. If you do anything that any one of them notice, they will not be quiet. Not only that, they will be regular people, not the government bad guys. They’re just doing their job,” he explained.

Aliyah was surprised at the thought that went into Raphe’s explanation. She hadn’t thought about all of that, and he did in a matter of seconds.

“We will come up with something. We have plenty of time,” he said, with a big smile, as he turned a little to look at them. Ben and Eliana had been asleep through all of that, so they didn’t know what had happened to Melanie, which Aliyah was very thankful for.

“Let me make some calls,” Raphe said.

“Hey man, this is Raphe. I gotta favor to ask. There are six or seven people that might be in the county lockup in Everett Washington. Can you see where they’re at in there, along with the layout and any other useful info about the place,” he asked. “No, I’d never think of busting someone out, just want to know they’re ok, and all,” he added. “Yeah, the last names are Brager, Draper and Stone. Yeah, they’re weird names. Hey, thanks, man,” he finally said and hung up. “He’ll let us know what he can find out,” Raphe told them.

It wasn’t half an hour later that Raphe received a phone call. “Yeah, what’s up?” he answered. He listened for quite a while. “You’re kidding me,” he said. “Alright, thanks, man. I owe you one,” he said and hung up.

“They are there, but no one knows why. What is really interesting is that no charges have been filed in the system and they are all being kept in solitary. There are twelve of them, so others have been arrested along with your parents.”

“Raphe, would you be able to contact a TV station in the Seattle area?” Aliyah asked, an idea forming in her mind. Something that she remembered Coach Sullivan saying was spurring her forward.

“I don’t know. I don’t mess with TV stations much.”

“Would you try? I’m sure they wouldn’t listen to a kid.”

“What do you want me to tell them?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I want them to show up at the jail where my parents are.”