Chapter 13

Katherine finds one of her friends. But it might be too late.

The factory was still and eerie. There wasn’t any foot traffic, just like before. The door on the side of the factory was open and left unguarded. I snuck in, careful not to make a sound as I pushed the metal door open and let it gently swing close. It was extremely dimly lit in the hallway, so I brought out my cell phone and turned the flashlight app on. There was an app for everything.

Each room that I passed looked empty and dark, vacant. Before they had labs with scientists and small experiments going on. Now there was nothing and a shiver ran up and down my spine.

Seven rooms later, a small hint caught my eye. The flashlight wasn’t going through the door’s tiny window, so I turned it off. Inside was a desk light turned on and illuminated a hospital bed, and faintly lit up medical equipment.

“Claire!” I shouted before I realized what I was doing. My hands shot up to cover my mouth but I instantly tried the door. It was unlocked.

That was odd.

I walked in cautiously. Claire was on the bed looking comfortable. The low volumed beeps from the machines telling me she was alive. My heart relaxed, I didn’t kill her with the magic bolt. My arm tingled, the black veins throbbed once or twice. I had to get her out… but how? If I moved her from the machines, I had to make sure she was living. Maybe she should go look for Simon first, then come back to Claire with him to help.

The hallway was still unguarded. Not a scientist or armed, mindless guards. My arm ached again. With the flashlight app turned on again, it was back into the hallway. The stone walls were damp and cold under my hands. At the end of the hallway I was in was a large, empty room that may have been used for giant experiments. The ceiling was high above and the air seemed weird. In a way that I couldn’t describe to myself.

Someone walked out from a dark hole in the far wall. It couldn’t have been a scientist, it was far too big. Maybe an old experiment of some creature walking around. Backing up, my back bumped up against a door. But I just came through an open door, not a closed one. And I hadn’t closed it myself.

The creature across the room growled. It was low and threatening. A small amount of light was peaking through a grate high above the creature and I, and it shined on the other side of the room. A fleshy patch was all it hit.

“Who’s there? Who locked the door?” I called out. No one said anything, of course. The figure on the other side of the room stepped forward, a clicking sound came after it’s heavy thud of a footstep. The lights burst on revealing the entire room. What I was looking at was completely ugly. “Gross. What is that?”

The creature growled at the lights on the ceiling. They were irritating it. When it looked down and focused on me, I saw something that made me want to vomit. In it’s eyes was someone I knew. Someone that came here with me before.

Simon.

His body was bigger, bulked up with what looked like muscle. His skin was burnt looking, mutilated in some parts. One arm was more muscular than the other, while the opposite was left scrawny and thin looking. His face was patchy, parts of it were swollen and looked as ugly as the rest of him. There were tiny worm-like things coming out of his body in various places. When I looked closer, I noticed they were all the special parasites to make the Driver.

Simon moved for me. First it was a walk, then a jog, and then a full on sprint. The door and walls were at my back and there wasn’t any other way out, except for how Simon came in, which also closed with a low hum of machinery.

“Simon, stop!” I lifted my arm up and through the painful throbs, a barrier of blue light exploded around me. Simon ran into it but it deflected him backwards. My eyes--as well as Simon’s--grew very wide. I had performed magic with the Hex Driver being off. Of course, I had to double check to make sure. The black veins seemed thicker, but slightly smaller. You wouldn’t notice unless you paid very close attention. “Simon, it is me, Katherine!”

Unfortunately, the barrier wore off.

Simon picked up on that little fact really quick and swung his heavy, thicker arm at me. The impact lifted me up off of my feet and made my body fly over into the corner of the two walls. My body slumped on the ground, big waves of pain bursting through my body. My eyes teared up even though I knew this wasn’t a time to whine.

I waved my hand as Simon slowly approached. Like before, an orb of blue magic shot out of my hand leaving only a burning, throbbing sensation.

The magic still was coming through, but the veins caused more and more pain every time I moved my arm or wrist. First the barrier, now the orb. The black veins shrunk thinner and smaller. My theory was just that, a theory. The black veins must be the infected part from the parasite, and with it still in my body, I can use magic. Claire’s mother told me that if we used the Hex Driver too much, the parasite could kill us. When they took it off, they hurt it as well. This magnificent discovery made me feel better, a tiny spark of hope popping. But the veins looked quite tiny, shrinking as I held up yet another barrier from a second swing from the muscular arm of Simon. The magic in me just had to be enough. I summoned what I could into a beam, dropped the barrier and fired. Simon’s head jerked back as I hit him in the chest. He stepped back, away from me and the beam of magic.

“Simon you have to snap out of this! It’s me, Katherine. I’ve come to save you.”

“I… know. Save… yourself.”

“No, I can’t do that. Claire is in another room hooked up to hospital machines, and I need your help to get her out.”

Simon tilted his head up. A beeping sound came from somewhere near him. It was like a countdown. Simon quickly looked at me. “Go,” he said in his growl. Twisting on his disproportioned feet, Simon ran for the door he came out of on the other side of the room. When he got there, light was the only thing filling the room. A big burst of light followed by smoke. Flesh and blood rained down in the room, some splattering on me as I cowered in the corner.

When it was all said and done, my ears were ringing. The smoke cleared, but Simon was gone. What was there had only been parts of him. Hex implanted a bomb, maybe as a safety measure if he recovered his conscience. With him gone, there was nothing else to do but get the Hell out.

First off, Claire.

I used magic to unlock and open the door, like I had done back in Hex Academy. I ran down the hall toward Claire’s room, but a few guards were outside. My magic made quick work of them and the next lock. Inside, though, was Claire’s mom. She was dead on the chair, blood running down her cheeks from her eyes. Whatever killed her used magic. Her Hex Driver was black, cold from the parasite dying--no doubt.

“Claire, wake up.”

My arms went over her chest and I focused on healing her. My black veins drained out into the blue light illuminating the room from my hands.