The Unnatural

Chapter 26: Retribution

GABE

He despised himself for what he had done. The little boy was no older than his middle son, Ben, and Gabe couldn't help but think of Ben now as he carried the boy into the facility.

Unlike his father and his older brother, Jake, Ben steered clear of sports. It was nothing he had against it; his mind was simply more mathematical. Much like his mother. Ben even resembled Alice, not just his button nose and oblong eye shape, but his personality as well. He was open-minded, kind-hearted, and witty. Bearing her quirks, like being a controlling, neat-freak while maintaining a stoic worldview. Above all, Ben had her intellect.

Alice was the smartest person Gabe had ever met. Yet, she was grounded, humble, and genuinely human.

Was. Had. Was.

Using the past tense when thinking about her made him want to scream, but he couldn't. He had to maintain control, or at least the facade of it.

Don't worry Ben, I'm going to find you, Jake, and Dixie. We'll make a home again.

Grimacing, he bit his lip, suppressing his emotions. He felt watched. Of course he was watched. They were always watching.

Be careful. Don't let anything slip through.

With that thought, he pushed aside any rumination and focused on the moment at hand.

Callie walked by his side, the boy in his arms, his feet and hands dangling lifelessly. The tranquilizer he'd administered had worked more like a hypnotic than a sedative, rendering the boy unresponsive.

Gabe averted his gaze from the boy's face, with his gaping jaw and crooked glasses.

A woman in a white lab coat opened a door on his left. Gabe walked in cautiously, ensuring that he didn't hit the boy's head on the door frame. Eager assistants in white coats were waiting inside, as Callie followed him in like a tiny robotic shadow.

Gabe placed the boy in the bed. The attendants in white swarmed around him, securing his wrists and ankles.

Easy, Gabe thought. He's not going anywhere.

From down the hall, he heard the click-clacks of heavy heels. She was coming. Gabe straightened his posture, ready to tread carefully. He had to be submissive and oblivious. All for the sake of his children.

For Jake. For Dixie. For Ben.

For Alice...

Justine Davenport entered the room wearing her usual black suit, her black hair with silver streaks pinned back, giving her eyebrows a perpetually inquisitive arch. She saw the boy strapped down. Her thin lips created a pale, pink line, on the verge of being sucked into her face. It was a smile that looked almost alien, as if it was her first attempt at one.

That smile fueled Gabe's hatred for her.

"So this is the fog boy, huh?" Davenport inquired, her eyes then fixed on Gabe. She held her tablet firmly in her hand.

"Yes, ma'am," Gabe responded, devoid of any inflection. "His name is Samuel Fletcher."

"I could care less about his name. What can he do, and will he lead the girl here?"

Tension coursed through Gabe's nerves; he felt it in his fingers. Instead of forming a fist, he let them stiffen, and relayed to her what she needed to hear.

"His ability ranges from controlling the weather in a roughly fifty-thousand-square-mile radius, to expelling weather from his body. I've seen lightning shoot from his eyes firsthand."