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Part 36
When we leave the girls’ bathroom Ava heads straight over to M, Mole and Alec, probably to discuss her plan with them, but I hang back. Better to let Ava explain everything. She seems to be good at making half-truths seem plausible.
After a minute or so Alec breaks away from the group and heads over to where I‘m standing. He strolls over to me much too casually, and I definitely don’t like the nonchalant, easy-going expression he’s wearing. I like the smirk on lips even less.
“So, you know Ava.” It’s more a statement than a question. I raise an eyebrow at him. Non-verbal replies are definitely the best in a situation like this.
“Funny coincidence,” he goes on with, a mask of innocence on his face that I don’t trust even for a nanosecond. “You come to Seattle looking for a friend and instead, you find her. Unless of course Ava was the friend you were looking for.”
He pauses for a moment, giving me time to say something, but I remain silent. Somehow I don’t like this conversation.
“But then, if you met her while she was on a mission in Roswell,” he continues, “how would you know where to look for her? Come to think of it, it’s quite a coincidence to begin with that of all the towns in the country, she was sent to Roswell on a mission and it’s an even bigger coincident that you two met there and then run into each other again here - what, a year later? Besides, I don’t remember getting chummy with any ordinaries who were not a target on any mission I was ever sent on, but hey, I’m not psy-ops. Maybe they do things differently.”
He lets his musing hang in the air for a few moments, patiently waiting for a response from my side. I glance over at Ava, look back at Alec, sigh.
“You know, you we can continue this little charade if you want to,” I tell him, “Play clueless and unassuming and ignore the big fat white elephant that’s trampling around the room, but what’s the point? I’m well aware of the fact that there probably aren’t actually any blanks left that need to be filled in. You’re a smart boy. I’m sure you’ve already figured it all out.”
Now his smirk widens into a grin. “Just checking to see how gullible you think I am.”
I snort. “You’re about as gullible as Michael.”
“Who?”
“Never mind. Let’s talk about this later. You know, when there are less people around with eavesdropping abilities that Rona Barrett would kill for.”
He shrugs. “Sure. There are kind of more pressing matters at hand anyway.” He waves his hand around the room to emphasize his point.
Right. Hostage situation.
As if on cue, Ava calls my name to get my attention.
As Alec and I head over to her, M and Mole, I suddenly ask myself what Ava told them and how she explained my involvement in the whole thing. M and Mole throw equally suspicious glances my way, but neither of them says anything to me. Strange.
Oh well. I can always worry about that later on. If they bring it up, I can always ignore them. Life is so simple if you don’t have any manners to worry about.
M then moves away and shoos all the humans – Logan included – over to the other side of the room, telling them that all they have to do is sit around for another thirty minutes or so before they’re free to go – unharmed of course. They comply, probably happy that they’re not forced to play human shields for us a second time.
Logan of course protests. Shocker.
From the look on her face, M is getting kind of fed up with him. She cuts him off, making it very clear that this is not up for discussion. Ooh, are dark clouds drawing up in paradise? Only that it’s not really paradise, with the virus and all that. Yeah.
Meanwhile the transgenics have gathered at the door, looking at Ava and me expectantly.
Here goes nothing…or everything.
------
So far so good. Ava opened the door with a flick of her wrist after whispering to me that she’d turned off all the cameras, and so far there has been no visible reaction of any kind from the crowd or from the police. Then she grabs my hand, taking me into the mind-warp.
It’s a strange feeling. Surreal. I can see the crowd in front of us, but at the same time I see the building behind us, only minus us, and the door is closed. It’s…confusing. I feel kind of like I’m dreaming, floating almost, because reality is a bit off, a bit far away.
Alec is at my other side, playing guide and ready to catch me in case I use up too much energy and faint or something. And before you call me pessimistic, that’s my best-case scenario.
We move out quickly, organized, and I see the transgenics’ training coming through. They move in unison, almost as if they’d practiced this a billion times before. Not surprising, considering that they probably have practiced this a billion times before.
Alec’s arm is around my waist to steady me, just in case. I feel kind of dazed. I try to concentrate on what I’m doing mind-warp wise, but it’s hard. If Ava didn’t have that under control, we’d all be dead by now.
We pile into the bus, Max in the drivers seat, Mole beside her, Ava, Alec and I right behind them. The rest of the transgenics fill into the seats behind us.
At first I don’t notice that something’s wrong. I’m too focused on the mind-warp. Then I hear Alec’s voice, register his tone. He’s as close to panic as he will ever get. “What’s wrong Max?”
“It won’t start. Fuck!” M yells, slamming the steering wheel, startling me so much that I forget all about the mind-warp for a second before quickly diving back into it.
“They gave us a pile of shit! We can forget our transportation.”
Oh crap.
-------
I wake with a start. My eyes snap open, but it’s too dark to make out my surroundings.
Where am I? What happened? How did I get here? What the fuck happened?
I don’t remember. I don’t have even the faintest idea. I remember leaving the building, getting into the bus, said bus not starting, M cursing. That’s it. After that, nothing but a big blank.
This cannot be good.
I move, grown. Everything hurts. I haven’t felt this beaten up since I healed Annie…maybe not even then.
I blink, but it’s too dark to really see much of anything. I’m in a room, that much I can tell. A small windowless room. The door seems heavy and impenetrable. Not that I can really tell, since it’s too dark to really make it out. Somehow I just have the feeling that it won’t budge easily.
This cannot be good.
I have no idea where I am, who brought me here, what happened, but I know that this can’t be good. Being locked in a small, dark room never is.
What happened? Did the police get us after all?
But this doesn’t look like a prison. Which leaves only one other possibility.
White.
My thoughts fly to Alec as fear shoots through my body, making breathing very hard all of a sudden. Does White have him too? Is he safe? Hurt? Dead?
No. I shake my head, mumble the word out loud, anything to convince myself. He’s not dead. He can’t be. I’d know. I’d feel it. I mean…I would, right?
I have to get out of here. I have to find him. I roll myself off the cot I’m lying on, barely managing to suppress the groan that’s fighting to break from my dry mouth. I get up, wince, convinced that I’ll topple over any second. I feel so weak.
I slowly make my way to the door. Despite knowing that it’s useless, I place my hand over the lock. Nothing happens. My powers aren’t strong enough. Hell, I think they’re not even there in the first place. Damn mind-warping.
I sink to the floor beside the door, too exhausted to remain on my feet any longer. I try to control my labored breathing, try to control the panic and fear rising up inside of me, swallowing me whole, try to control my thoughts that are currently running amok.
I need to think. I need a plan. I need to get out of here.
Nothing happens. I’m not capable of forming a coherent thought. Coming up with a plan seems unfathomable, escape impossible. I’m stuck.
After a few minutes I find myself capable of moving again, capable of thinking again. I need to escape. I need to find Alec.
The door is the most obvious choice, but at the same time a very improbably route to success. I need to find out if there’s another way out of here.
I start crawling alongside the wall, looking for a trap door in the floor or another door in the wall. I doubt that I’ll find anything, but I have to try. Maybe my captors are really, really stupid and there’s a door in here that they forgot about and that happens to be open.
Yeah, right. And pigs can fly.
Not seeing anything hampers my progress, and despite the room being rather small, it takes some time before I’ve searched it completely. My physical condition is not helping matters, I need to stop every few minutes and take a break.
I just want to lie down and sleep and sleep and sleep, but the thought of Alec drives me on.
I can’t sleep. I need to get out of here. I need to find him. I need to make sure he’s okay. Maybe he needs me. He could be hurt, locked up somewhere, they could be interrogating him. I refuse to let the thought that it may be too late already enter my head.
It’s not too late. It can’t be.
Suddenly I hear the sound of footsteps outside my cell. They’re coming closer. Whoever it is stops in front of my door. I can see their shadow through the crack between the door and the floor, they’re blocking out some of the light. Not that there’s much of that to begin with.
Panic shoots through my body again. Instinct tells me to hide, but there’s nowhere to go. There’s just the cot and a chair and some other piece of furniture that I couldn’t quite figure out in the dark.
I’m paralyzed with fear. I can’t move.
I hear the doorknob being turned slowly. Then the door inches open. A second later I can see the person, make out his face and I can’t stop a gasp from escaping my lips.
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