Fracted (Book #2)

Chapter 54: Doubts

"What's wrong, Jess?" Robert asked. "You're not eating." I stare at my small plate of greasy ham slices.
"Doesn't that look appetizing?" I watch Ace shove a spoonful of oil-soaked ham into his mouth.
"No. No, it doesn't," I push the plate away from me. Ace repeatedly glances at my plate.
"Here." I push the plate toward him, and he instantly devours the whole thing.
"Thanks, bro."
"Oh, I've been meaning to ask, Jess. Where'd you guys end up on the night you left?" Zach asked.
"Some island in New York. We thought we'd be alone in that island, but it was running with Innate hunters."
"How'd you guys make it out alive?" Sarra asked. "You wouldn't even be here right now." I ignored her question and continued with my story.
"Well that's not actually the bad part. I saw my...dad." I choke back the tears.
"Wait what?" Robert sounded very happy for me. "That doesn't sound bad, Jess. Not unless he's--"
"He's dead," I said abruptly. This time, I could control the waterfall of tears.
"Oh my."
"And Eiffel too." But this one, a few sobs were came out. Then I kept my face straight.
"I'm so sorry," Alice said. For the first time she showed sympathy towards me. I took a deep breath and pinched the crease on my forehead and rested my elbows on my knees.
"How're you feeling now?" Ace asked.
"Indescribable."
"Bad or good?"
"Well, we escaped that island. But Eiffel and dad died, and I'm stuck here in this dungeon. However, at least we're together, right?"
"As long as no one dies, we're good." Zach said. Was he inplying to our group, or everybody else?
An hour has passed and I look up at the hole that's on top of the wall. Little sunshine hit us. I hug myself and sat closer to Sarra. She's not warm at all.
"What happened to you? You're not hot," I said to her.
"He took our powers. What about you?"
"Yeah. I still wonder how we're still awake right now."
"It's some green-yellow liquid that he injected to our necks--I forgot the rest."
"The rest? What do you mean?"
"I don't know, dude. Ask Robert."
After Robert heard his name, he awakened from his short sleep and crawled fast next to us. "Yeah, what is it? I heard my name, what do you guys need?" he asked.
"Jess wants to know what else happened after we woke up here."
"Okay--When André was escorting us, we saw another room. A different room filled with people we don't recognize. I mean, almost every student in the academy, we recognize them but, I think there are Zips too."
"What do you think he's doing to them?"
"He's experimenting."
"You think he'll do the same thing with us?"
Robert shushes me after smacking his hand up to my mouth. "You don't want to start a ruckus here, do you?"
"No, I don't. I'm just worried about what might happen to us." I pry his hand off my face.
"Nothing bad's gonna happen. None of us are gonna die," he said. "I promise you that."
Who do you think you are?! You can't say no one will die when people like us are already dying! How dare you.
"I appreciate your optimism," I say instead. "but you can't control the universe, Rob. None of us can."
"I'm not trying to say the exact opposite of our imminent deaths to be positive."
"Sure," I say with a sarcastic tone.
"I'm not just being positive, I know no one's gonna die."
"How are you so sure?"
"I just know," he sighed.
I choose to believe not to believe Robert. But I hate being so negative. This is just the chip controlling me, right? I hope so, I tell myself.
"What do we now then?" I ask.
"Sleep." Robert glances at the other kids sleeping on the corner. "Wait?"
I thought of saying "what for?", but it would be like letting the chip control me.

The door swings open, his footsteps came close to us. I wake up instantly, witnessing him holding three syringes on each hands. I had a distinct feeling that the syringes are for us six. But why? Well, it seemed like the most logical reason, right? We're pretty much his top students, so he might as well take care of us first. The more skills, the merrier.
"Hey," André called out quietly. "You six, come with me. We're goin' somewhere."
"Why?" Alice asked suspiciously.
"Just come. I'll explain to you on the way."
"We're not going anywhere until you tell us why," said Robert. André shines a flickering cylinder of light toward us. Robert shields his eyes with his arm. "Alright, alright...I'm up," he said after yawning like a hungry lion.
"Alright, meat-heads, let's move!"
The rest of the kids that were with us didn't wake up at all after André called us. I was yanked by the collar out of the dungeon. I had one final glance at the kids--still unconscious from their sleep. Except they weren't asleep. No. I saw that the back of their necks were glowing in red light. The same area where my chip was implanted.
"Wait!" I shouted as I was getting pulled out. "No, wait!"
I dig my heels down the sandpaper-like floor and manage to throw myself off André's grip. My hands hook against the door frame, but a couple more Andrés grab me from my shoulders. Of course there are more of them! Stupid, stupid, stupid! A great force hits my stomach and I fall weakly on my knees, moaning in pain.
"No!" I cried. It's all too late.
Those kids--I bet they're just like me. The fact that they have the chip-trackers makes them as powerful as I am. But why the heck am I with the people with no chip-trackers?
"Jess," Zach said. "Don't worry, kid. You'll find a way." He winks at me.
A wink, of course. This guy's up to something. He could snap the clone's neck or blow up the whole place with one push of a button--we don't know for sure. He rubs the back of his neck continuously, a signal I bet. He wants me to get rid of the chip and what else really? What are you trying to say?!
Before I could get further signals, Zach swings his head to the side, thus headbutting André and knocking him out. The clones who held the other four aim their guns at Zach...but not me. As the clone who held me placed his finger over the trigger, I step over his calf, which gave me an advantage to wrap my leg around his outstretched arm and flip down to my back. A bullet zips beside of my ear and Zach emits an anguished yell. He falls to his side, clutching his right calf.
"Jess, Ace, Sarra, Alice," Robert shouted. He helps Zach by brawling with the other clones. "Zach and I'll take care of this. You four have to go to the labs and find the syringes that contain our powers. It's on the lower levels, quick!"
I had one last look of the two before running; Zach snapped the hand of the clone who shot his calf and shot two more chasing after us while Robert violently threw a clone across his shoulder like a sack of flour.
"Come on, don't look back!" Robert shouted, before getting jumped from the back. I felt the urge of running back and helping the two, but it seemed like they've got this.
Three instant gunshots were heard, and I couldn't help but turn again. Ten bodies lie still on the floor, only one remained standing up. Robert's glasses swim in a puddle of his own blood. Their screams and bellows from all the fighting a few seconds ago replayed in my mind. I stopped running.
"Jess, c'mon!" Ace yelled. But I was feeling too vulnerable to keep moving. My legs shook in disbelief. The sounds of feet shuffling against the floor deducted to only two people, Ace stopped too.
"I'm so sorry," Zach muttered, limping across the hallway. "I couldn't save him." His voice echoes through the hallway. I fight back the tears.
"We have...to go," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "We have to keep moving."
I couldn't stop looking at Robert's lifeless body. Luckily, Zach's muscular arm wrapped around my shoulders, we kept on going. Is this it? After all the comfort he's given me, and I just end up walking away? This is incredulous. I had so many doubts about escaping, but Robert had me believing. Thanks for the hope, Rob.
"Found the passage for the lower levels," Alice announced, pulling the door open.
"Let's go," I said.
We stepped down six flights of stairs, not running anymore. It was far more than just cold, we walked like revived corpses.
"Why's it so cold down here?" Sarra said.
"Oh right, you're not used to cold," said Zach.
"You showoff," she said. They talked like Robert's not dead. As if he was still alive. I wish I was capable of doing that. Stupid honest self.
The farther we went down, the darker it got. Unknowingly, I miss a step and I slip down, my other hand's still on the railing. My shins hurt from the moderate fall, but not as much as Robert's demise.
"Jess, are you okay?" Zach asked in a hurried voice. "You've fallen."
"I know...I'm sorry." There goes the tears. Why are you even crying?! You just fell down, get up you loser!
"Jess?" Ace climbed up to help me up. My lungs felt heavy, as if they just faltered. Not just my lungs, my entire body. I could feel my brain pounding against my skull, yelling for help, finding a way out of my darkness-filled head. "Are you okay? Does it really hurt that bad? C'mon tell me, what's wrong?" he asked.
I sobbed hard and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "He's dead," I squeak. "Robert's dead. I should've helped him."
"Come on, Jess," Ace begged. "We have to keep moving."
"I'm so sorry," I muttered to myself.
"It wasn't your fault," Zach said. "I was the one who helped him, and it's my fault, not yours." I wipe the remaining tears and stood up by myself. It's no one's fault then.
The flight of stairs ended with another hallway, but with tiny light bulbs lined up against the walls. Just like the underground labyrinth back at the msnsion. But there were much more differences that cannot be explained by the human lips anymore. Except for the over-growing light thirty feet away from us. The darkness enlightens in gleaming sunlight.
"That's it!" Ace yelled. "We found our way out come on!"
"No, Ace," Sarra tugged on Ace's arm as he started to dash towards the light. "We still have to get our powers, remember?"
"But where?" Ace said impatiently. Does this kid want his powers or not?
"He said the labs. We have to go to the labs."
"Let's just split up and look through the doors, yes?" Alice suggested.
"Alright," Zach said. "Jess, wait--Robert wanted me to give this to you." He clasped a knife between my prosthetic fingers. It's the knife that Robert gave me back at the academy. I'm surprised even the tiniest detail can still be remembered. The elevator, the fear...Robert's arms hugging me.
I realized that the end of the stairwell was an intersection. I head down to my left with Ace behind me, Zach and Sarra to the right, and Alice alone on the hallway behind the stairs. The doors were paper-white and the card access system panels were beside them.
"Just look through the glass and see what's inside," Ace said. "Look for something interesting."
"Like things that are more interesting than what happened the past five minutes?"
"Sadly, yeah."
After searching eight rooms that only accomodated computers and chemistry instruments, I checked the ninth door before giving up. There sat two people on dentist chairs, strapped and minute wires injected among their skins. The person on the right was a man with bronze highlights on his black hair and a pointy nose that can puncture through heavy metal. The other person was a girl my age with blonde hair and puffy cheeks.
It took a long time for me to
realize--because of the oxygen masks on their faces--that the two people were Benjamin and Eiffel.