Minds: Book One

Chapter Five

        “Thank you so much Salem!” I said with a huge smile on my face as I gave her a hug. She started laughing.

        “Oh you should be thanking dear Alice not me,” she gave me a hug back. Alice gave her a hug and said, “Thank you Salem, I’ll give you a call when we get somewhere safe.” Salem just nodded her head in response. It was almost dark outside. Alice started the car as I was getting inside.

        “How long have you known that you are different too?” I asked as Alice started driving back to her old house.

        “I’ve known for a two years. My family and I were on the run from ROIM and we found Salem. She took us in for a few months and that’s when I learned that I was different. She taught me how to speak to people telepathically and how to push people out of my mind. I was the only one out of my mom, my dad, and my sister that could do those two things. ROIM grabbed us at a gas station one day and when they were done with the tests on my family, they killed them,” she cleared her throat and added, “Right in front of me because I refused to give them what they wanted.” A tear slid down her cheek and landed on her thigh.

        “But I managed to escape from them and I found the Safe House for others and people like us. That’s where I met Nick and Richard. The Safe House sends the ‘different ones’ out to save other people from ROIM because they can refuse ROIM’s tests. Nick and Richard were just getting back from a mission when we visited them.” I swallowed the lump that appeared in my throat.

        “What does… ROIM stand for?” I asked shyly.

        “Research of Intellectual Minds.” I just nodded in response. Alice slowed down a little I didn’t realize how fast she was going. I shifted in my seat suddenly uncomfortable.

        “Isaac don’t worry I won’t let ROIM get you. We are just going to go back to my old house to get our things and start heading towards the Safe House.” I just nodded. Alice gave me a small smile. When we turned the corner Alice slammed on the breaks. She quickly turned off her headlights and backed into someone’s drive-way. There were two white SUV’s parked in Alice’s old drive-way.

        “Is that…” I couldn’t finish my sentence.

        “ROIM.” Alice finished it for me. Alice’s old bedroom light was on and I could see two people moving around in there. They were dressed in all white suits. Alice kept the headlights off and drove in the opposite direction of her old house. When we turned the corner and could no longer see her old house in the rear view Alice turned the headlights back on.

        “I don’t know how the hell they knew where we were,” Alice starting shaking her head. “I was careful this time, no phone calls, no internet, there is no way that they could have found us,” she added but it didn’t seem like she was talking to me. She took a couple quick turns but didn’t slow down. She took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down. It didn’t seem to work. Suddenly two bright white headlights appeared in the rearview mirror. Alice slammed her hand down on the steering wheel and shouted, “NO THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!” she said in a shaky voice. “They can’t do this to me again. Not again. No. Please no.” Alice sped up even faster to try and lose the people following us.

        “Isaac I need you to get the gun out of the glove box and start shooting at the SUV behind us,” she said with a stern voice. I opened the glove box and grabbed the gun. I rolled down the window and stuck my torso out so I could shoot behind us. I started shooting but the windows were bullet proof. Instead I starting shooting at the tires. I hit the driver side tire after a few tries. The SUV started to slow down and when I hit the passenger side tire it blew out and the SUV crashed into a light post. I slid back inside the car.

        Alice was smiling at me. Without warning a white SUV pulled out in front of us.

        “Watch out!” I screamed. Alice slammed into the back of the SUV. The airbags slammed into my face and chest. My vision started to go blurry at the edges. Alice was laying against her airbag with her eyes closed. A man dressed in all white pulled her out of the car.

        “Alice!” I screamed.

A sharp pain struck me in the back of the head and everything went black.

        When I opened my eyes I saw a bright light shining down on me. I squinted my eyes and looked around the room that I was in. It looked like I was in a hospital room. Wires were all over my head and arms. I turned my head to the side which really hurt. Someone must have struck me on the back of the head. I reached up to touch the spot on my head that hurt and there was a bandage covering it. When my eyes adjusted to the bright light better I could see a woman dressed in all white with her back turned to me. She was working at a computer. The door opened and a man also dressed in all white walked inside. Someone walked in behind him but I couldn’t see who it was.

        “Hello Isaac. It’s good to see you awake.” The man said in a voice that annoyed me. I rolled my eyes.

        “Yeah I wish I could say the same,” I said in a monotone voice.

        “Now Isaac we aren’t going to hurt you. We are just going to run a few tests.” The man said in a cheerful voice.

        “Too late for that,” I huffed as I pointed to the bandage on my head.

        “My name is Dr. Maston and this is my assistant,” Dr. Maston said as if he didn’t hear me. I looked over at his assistant who still hadn’t raised his head.

        “Introduce yourself to Mr. Rollins,” Dr. Maston touched his assistant on the back and he raised his head. When I saw his face my heart nearly stopped.

        “Hi Isaac.”

It was River.