The Awakening

Chapter Five: An Escape From The Past

          Justin sat on a dark blue, leather recliner. He pressed his head against a feathery pillow propped behind him. Staring up at the ceiling, he winced in anticipation as his grandfather prepared to dissect his forearm. The others stood close by to watch while Thorn gathered sharp instruments on a tiny table parallel to Justin. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on his past life when times were easier. Back when he didn't have to constantly be paranoid about dying every day. Back before The Awakening. Beads of sweat formed along his hair line and he began to nervously tap his fingers against the arms of the chair. His chest rapidly inflated as he took short, rapid breaths to calm his nerves. At that moment, Grace walked over and interlocked her hand with his and let out a short smile. Justin opened his eyes and squeezed his sister's hand.
     "You'll be okay," Grace whispered.
          He looked up and nodded without expressing a single word. Suddenly, Thorn's voice broke the silence of the room as he readied Justin's arm.
     "You ready, son?" Thorn asked softly.
          Justin looked around the room at his new friends with a blank stare.
     "We've all gotta do this," Justin said. "It'll be okay."
          Thorn ripped open a tiny packet and rubbed an alcohol wipe on Justin's arm. He felt around for a bump or indication of where the tracker may be. Feeling an abnormal lump in the boy's arm, Thorn pressed down to make sure he had found the mark.
     "Yeah. That's it," Justin winced through gritted teeth.
     "I'm not gonna lie to you. This will hurt," Thorn responded.
          Digging in with a sharp scapula, Thorn cut through the top layer of skin. A dark red layer of skin appeared and a small black ball poked out through the mess. Justin bit down on the top of his shirt to muffle his screams while fiercely holding Grace's hand. Thorn reached over to the table to grab a pair of metal tweezers. Clamping around the ball, the tracker was removed from Justin's inner arm. With a lippy smile, Thorn stood up and put his hand on Justin's shoulder.
"Well, that's finished," Thorn chuckled. "Who wants to go next," he said trying to break the somber ambiance in the room.
Courtney stepped up to get her tracker removed while Grace pulled Justin to the side to wrap up his arm. She snatched a white roll of gauze that Thorn had brought out with his doctoral tools. Taping the edge to his arm, she pressed down softly on the wounded area.
"Agh, that hurts," Justin moaned while snatching his arm away from his sister. "Here! Let me do it," Justin said as his swiped the bandage from Grace's hands. She nodded and turned away to hide her emotions. Grace loved her brother with every bone in her body but with times growing more difficult.... No! She thought. I promised mom I would protect him until the day I die. Can't turn my back now. Her thoughts blurred her mind and made her oblivious to the outside world. How nice it would be to go back in time. Before her parents died. Back when they were just a normal family. And especially without the stupid Awakening.
With her eyes firmly closed, Grace brushed her hands through her tangled hair and took a deep breath to calm herself down. Taking in her surroundings, she brushed the tears out of her eyes to defog her blurry vision. Justin was helping Courtney apply bandages while Will sat atop the "operating" chair.
"Blair, you're up next," Thorn announced as Will finished. As Blair sat down on the chair and prepared for the oncoming pain, a sudden thud was heard from behind her.
"What was that?" She inquired while turning around to stand on her knees. Brendan had collapsed to the floor at Raven's feet. Dropping his instruments to the floor, Thorn rushed over and bent down to feel Brendan's slowed pulse.
"Justin? Justin! Come here now," Thorn demanded.
Blindly rushing over to where he heard his name, Justin was appalled at the sight.
"Oh my gosh! What happened?" Justin cried.
"Were you with him the whole time at the Awakening?" Thorn needed to know.
"What's going on here?" Justin responded, completely ignoring his grandfather's question.
"Stay focused," Thorn yelled as he shook Justin by his shoulders. "Were you with him the whole time?"
"For the most part, why?"
"Was Brendan in the first group to receive the treatment?" Thorn requested.
"We both were. But then an alarm suddenly went off when we were being screened and all hell broke loose," Justin began. "I broke out into the hallway with Brendan if I remember correctly. It all happened so fast. I don't remember everything," he whispered.
"Go on! Tell me what you think happened. It's really important that you get this timeline correct."
"We began fighting people in the hallway, but then he was shot with some type of tranquilizer needle. And then I picked him up and went somewhere. But, everything after that," Justin paused and looked down. He swept his hair over to the side and twiddled his thumbs in his lap.
"And that's all I can remember," Justin sighed while looking at Thorn.
Thorn remained silent for a moment with a blank stare focused on Justin.
"Justin, Will," Thorn snapped. "One of you grab his legs and the other get his head and torso. Now follow me," Thorn demanded. It was if a sudden burst of energy had flowed into him. He was a whole new person. The two boys followed the older gentleman to a side door and stopped behind him.
"Imere," Thorn called. She was still in shock from the situation before her and could barely utter a response.
"Mmhmm," she said. Imere was biting a nail and focused on the floor, refusing to look at Brendan being carried away.
"Imere! I need you to finish the process for Blair and remove her tracker. I will be back as soon as possible. As soon as I deem Brendan safe again."
Giving a silent nod, Imere glanced up at the boys and quickly turned away once more.
"Also," Thorn said to interrupt the silence of the room. "Introduce them to the training machines. If we're going to make a move, we have to make them accustomed to their new identities."
Suddenly, Courtney dashed forward and tugged on the back of Thorn's shirt before he could leave the room.
"What," he groaned.
"Where are you taking him? He saved my life. You gotta protect him. Let me come. I can help you guys," she desperately pleaded.
"I think it would be best if you stayed behind," Thorn remorsefully said to the young girl. Shaking her head in understanding, Courtney backed off and watched as the others left the room before her.
          Justin's arms strained from the dead weight given from Brendan's body. He took little baby steps into a cold, stale-smelling hallway that had old books lining the walls. A silent breeze floated through the room as no one dared to break the silence. Shifting his friend's weight into one arm, Justin reached out and brushed his fingers along the books' spines. Leaving dust print markings as he touched, he stopped to examine a interesting looking novel. Holding it up to his lips, he let out a small exhale to clear the dust.
"The One," Justin whispered as he slowly flipped over the front cover. Sloppily fingering through the pages, Justin stopped on one with an elaborate sketch sprawled across it.
"What are The Legacies?" Justin asked his grandfather who had continued walking. Turning back, Thorn jogged and snatched the book from the teenager's hands.
     "Don't touch that," the man snapped. He slammed the book shut and pushed it back into its spot on the shelf.
     "Let's get a move on! Brendan's case is serious," Thorn continued. Justin lightly rolled his eyes and readjusted Brendan in his arms. Catching a glimpse at Will, he shrugged his shoulders in confusion before traipsing behind Thorn.
     "Where are we taking him?" Will questioned as they made another turn into a long wooden corridor with white doors scattered throughout.
     "Brendan needs help. Serious help. My grandfather left some old medications in the house when he died that may be able to cure him. But they're highly experimental," Thorn responded. 
          They approached the last door on the left, and Thorn pulled out a ring of keys and fiddled with the lock. Cabinets filled with vials of liquid coated the walls and outdated books were sprawled everywhere.
     "Here. Set him down on this," Thorn exclaimed as he frantically swept a table clean. The two boys carefully set their friend down while Thorn rushed to find what he was looking for.
     "Here it is," Thorn chuckled as he held up an obliquely shaped bottle with a dark purple liquid sloshing around. Lifting up the boy's head, Thorn forced Brendan to guzzle the fowl-snelling liquid.
     "Let's hope this works. Ever since The Awakening was issued, I've dedicated years to perfecting this cure."
     "How exactly did you know how to do this?" Will questioned him.
     "As I said before. When my grandfather died, he left behind all of this to me. I had never been interested in any of this, but I couldn't let his life's work be for nothing," Thorn answered. "I've looked through all his past records and documentations, and this is the closest I've gotten to fully developing it."
Neither of the boys responded and they turned away to keep their minds off of the ongoing situation. Justin began to parole the far side of the room which was covered with different colored vials of liquid. It appeared to be very disorderly with a slew of bottles laying on their sides and past spills discoloring sections of the wooden cabinets. Small, tangled spider webs decorated the corners and dust lingered over the remnants of a world long forgotten.
     "So what exactly is going on here?" Justin finally asked to break the lingering silence in the air.
     "The chip inserted into you guys during the Awakening has a chemical in it which upon exposure to the blood of a person with any variation of the disease will cause organ failure," Thorn said. "I'm giving the vaccine a minute to set in before I go to cut the chip out of his arm."
"Is Brendan gonna die?" Justin said in a way to hide how worried he was.
"Honestly? I have no idea. We just have to pray this works," Thorn sighed.
The realization of the whole situation was finally setting in for Justin. How real everything was right now! Running away from the Capital. Having a strand of a mutated disease. Special abilities? What does that even mean, Justin thought. Brendan, my best friend, is going to die. That should be me, not him.
In a spout of frustration, Justin kicked over a small stool in front of him and pressed his hands to his face.
"This is stupid," Justin exclaimed. "Why does this have to be our life? Why can't we just be normal? Special abilities. The Capital chasing after us. We never asked for any of this. I never asked for any of this," Justin cried. "Why can't things just go back to the way they used to be?" Justin wished.
"I know what you mean Justin," Thorn sympathized as he rested his arm on the boy's shoulder. "I would give anything to see your mom again. Or my grandfather. There's so many people I've lost due to all this. It's horrible, but they were all willing to risk their lives for the cause. To give us a better life in the future," Thorn lamented. 
          A sudden motivation launched through Thorn as he turned to dissect Brandon's forearm. Pulling the dead weighted arm onto a small table, Thorn cut open the top layer with his cleaned scalpel.
     "It's time," he said to the other two boys jokingly. Peeling back a pink opening, Thorn reached in with his tweezers and removed the foreign object.
     "This will work," Thorn exclaimed. "Hopefully."
          He wrapped the arm in gauze and propped Brendan's body up against a fluffed pillow. Thorn turned to face the two boys and asked one of them to stay with Brendan while he goes back to everyone else.
     "I'll do it," Will interjected. "It's no problem."
     "Great," Thorn exclaimed as he motioned for Justin to follow him out the door into the hallway. Will stood motionless for a couple seconds waiting for the other two to make their way down the corridor. As quietly as he could, Will began to snoop around the room to look at the various liquids sitting in the cupboards. Pulling out clear, blue, and green vials, Will examined the contents of the different containers thoroughly. He won't know they're missing Will thought with a smirk on his face.
          Meanwhile, Justin and Thorn were silently walking down the corridor back to the main room. As they passed the bookshelf, Justin glanced over at Thorn to see if he was paying attention to him. Noticing Thorn was focused ahead and whistling a tune, Justin swiped the book from earlier and tuck it under the back of his shirt. Thorn saw the boy snag the book; however, he remained silent. The older man smiled at Justin and continued to walk pretending to be oblivious to what Justin just did.
The two of them opened the door and walked into a silent room. The others appeared as if they had vanished until a faint voice came from the other side. Recognizable as Imere's voice, Thorn walked over to join Justin dawdled in place until Thorn was out of his line of vision. He quickly glanced around for a good hiding spot to tuck his mysterious book into. Justin paced back and forth before finalizing his decision of hiding it beneath a rock next to a tree.
"Justin, hurry up," Thorn chuckled.
"Coming," Justin said as he inadvertently jumped up.
Imere stood in the center of a glass box, very similar looking to the one seen in the Capital building.
"What is all this?" Justin questioned.
"This is the Guider," Imere cheerfully answered. "Basically, it detects how the virus affects your blood; thus, telling us what form of supernatural ability you may have."
"I-," Justin stammered.
"It's a lot to take in, I know. But if we plan to put an end to this regime we have to have as much help as we can get," Imere soothed.
"My grandfather invented all the technology you see around you to help people like you guys," Thorn giddily remarked.
"Like me," Justin scoffed.
"Oh no, I just meant people that may be affected by the disease. It's not a bad thing if you look at it in a different way," Thorn exclaimed.
Justin walked over to where Blair was sitting in a small, plastic chair with a wiry helmet atop her head.
"You know what," Justin laughed. "Go for it."